Epaper_22-09-29 LHR

tHE civil mil tar y leadership on Wednesday decided to conduct a thorough nvestigation into the aud o leaks fiasco and formed a high pow ered comm ttee to probe the cyber security breach led by Interior Minister Rana Sanaul ah The Nationa Security Comm ttee (NSC) wh ch met here with Prime Minister She hbaz Sharif in the chair and attended by Fed

eral Ministers Ser vices Ch efs heads of intell gence agencies and other senior officia s pondered over the aud o leaks matter in de ta l The meeting was told that an investigation is be ng conducted on the ssue of c rcu at ng aud os on socia media After consultation, the meeting also dec ded to prepare a ega framework about cyber security and in that re spect directed the Ministr y of Law and Justice for the preparation of legal framework

The meeting agreed to rev ew the security safety and the protect on of official commu

nications in v ew of the current changed en vironment of modern technology and cyber space so as to check any interruption in the security system

The heads of inte ligence agencies gave a detailed briefing about the secur ty of im portance places includ ng the PM House cy berspace and other related aspects

T h e m e e t i n g w a s t o l d t h a t n v e s t g a t i o n s a b o u t t h e a u d i o s c i r c u a t i n g o n s o c i a l m e d i a w e r e u n d e r w a y I t w a s a s o t o l d a b o u t t h e f o o l p r o o f s e c u r i t y a r r a n g e m e n t s a t t h e P M H o u s e a f t e r t h e i d e n t i f i c a t i o n o f s o m e a s p e c t s r e g a r d n g s e c u r t y T h e m e e t n g w a s a p p r i s e d o f e m e r g e n c y s t e p s b e i n g t a k e n t o e n s u r e t h e s e c u r i t y o f i m p o r t a n t p a c e s a n d b u i l d i n g s i n c u d i n g t h e P M H o u s e a n d M i n s t r i e s s o a s t o a v o i d a n y s u c h s i t u a t i o n i n f u t u r e T h e m e e t i n g a l s o t o o k s t o c k o f t h e r e s c u e a n d r e e f o p e r a t o n s b e i n g m a d e t o h e l p t h e f o o d a f f e c t e d p e o p l e a n d r e t e r a t e d c o m m i t m e n t t h a t r e i e f a n d r e h a b t a t o n o f t h e f o o d v i c t m s w i l l r e m a i n t o p p r i o r t y a s a n a t i o n a a g e n d a The meet ng dec ded that the ser es of ini tiat ves wi l continue by maintaining the same spirit attention and cooperation till the reset tlement of the affected populat on

The forum took view of the recent cata stroph c f oods rescue and re ef measures taken by the ncumbent government and the prevail ng secur ty situation in the countr y

Expressing grief and sorrow over the deaths due to recent countr ywide floods the partic pants expressed sympath es and soli darity w th the affected famil es N S C f o r m S h i g h - p o w e r e d pa N e l t o p r o b e a u d i o l e a kS f i a S C o

Resurgence of ter rorism won’t be tolerated, COA S tells Commanders Conference

RAWALPINDI

S ta f f R e p o R t

Chief of Army Staff (COA S) General Qamar Javed Bajwa on Wednesday ordered troops to leave no stone unturned n act ng against terrorists as he presided over the 252nd Corps Commanders ’ Conference the Inter Ser vices Pub ic Relations ( SPR) said

The forum undertook a comprehensive re v ew of security part cu arly of the situation along the countr y ’s borders The COA S main ta ned that a resurgence of terrorism would not be tolerated and troops must use all means to act aga nst terrorists n coordination with all law enforcement agencies

The ISPR statement further maintained that

the COA S expressed satisfaction over the op erational preparedness of the army forma tions and directed them to mainta n strict vigilance aga nst any threat

Gen Bajwa also commended mil tar y ef forts to reach f ood victims According to the mil tar y s media wing besides d scussing the external and nternal security situat on, the

meet ng part cularly focused on the flood s t uat on and ongo ng re ief efforts undertaken by the army formations across the countr y They expressed solidarity with f ood v ctims who were brav ng great diff culties and re solved to extend max mum ass stance for their re ief and rehab litation Accord ng to the state ment the COA S commended troops for reaching out to the peop e in distress and he p ing them mit gate their sufferings He further lauded army doctors and paramedics for pro viding emergency medical care to vict ms particular y ch ldren and women, as wel as measures taken to check the spread of d s eases in f ood hit areas

New audio leak reveals Imran wanted to ‘play on cipher ’

ISLAMABAD S ta f f R e p o R t

An audio leak a leged y of former premier Imran Khan and his principa secretar y at the time Azam Khan sur faced on Wednesday in wh ch the two were d scuss ng the d plomatic cipher The purported audio file starts mid way through a conversation between the two and is tit ed Stor y of the c pher conspiracy part 1 Now we have to play w th this Don t take America s name just play with this ” the PTI ch ef says allegedly in the aud o c ip to which a second vo ce c aimed to be Azam s advises that a meeting be held on the topic first The second vo ce then adds that whatever Qureshi (then FM) reads out in the meet ng, will be changed n the copy and then I w l make the minutes that the foreign secretar y has pre pared this ” The voice further states that the ana ys s would be conducted and converted nto m nutes “as we want so that it becomes part of the record The min utes wi be under my hand so t s not like they w l draft the minutes on their own ” The diplomatic cipher re ce ved from Pakistan s embassy in Washington and is at the centre of the fore gn conspiracy cla m made by the Pakistan Tehreek i Insaf (PTI) was nitially hidden from then pr me m n ster Imran Khan and then foreign minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi a leaked conversat on has re vealed The ongstanding c aim about the or g ns of the contentious vote of no confidence held aga nst Khan in April made by his party now in opposit on came true in the fourth conversation in a ser es of eaked aud os nked to the Prime M nister s Office (PMO) th s t me between Khan and his then pr nc pal secretar y Azam Khan on Wednesday Earlier, at least three conversations al legedly of Pr me Min ster Shehbaz Sharif and key mem bers of the government as well as h s niece Mar yam Nawaz were released on the darknet over the week end Faced w th a t ght no conf dence vote that saw him ousted after defections from his party Khan n March told a rally of his supporters the United States was conspiring against h m after he v sited Moscow in Februar y He met Russian Pres dent Vladimir Putin in Moscow in Februar y on the day Russ an forces entered neighbouring Ukraine The White House however has den ed that the United States sought to remove Khan from power n the audio cl p the f rst of the two voices, believed to be of Khan, is heard say ing: Ok, so now let s ust play with it [the cipher] We don t need to name [the US] See we can say the date [a back date] was already there ” At this point in the conversat on, the second vo ce, believed to be of Azam, the secretar y, is heard suggest ng hold ng a meeting on the c pher Sir was th nking we should hold a meet ng on this [c pher] If you remember, the ambassador mentioned at the end of the letter that we shou d issue a demarche If you stil don t want to issue a demarche [ ] I thought at night [ ] how can we cover the matter? Let s cal a meeting of [foreign min ster] Shah Mahmood Qureshi and Foreign Secretar y [Soha l Mahmood]

c a r d s a s D a r s p e l l s p r i o r i t i e s

ISLAMABAD S h a h z a d pa R ac h a

Federal Minister for Finance and Rev enue Ishaq Dar on Wednesday de c ded to br ng n his economic team and b ue eyed officials to the Finance m n str y, Federal Board of Revenue and other attach departments of the ministr y as he spelled priorities after assuming charge as F nance M nister

Sources privy to the development sa d that ma or changes will be made in important positions n the FBR and the f nance ministr y whi e special assistant to the f nance m n ster w ll also be reshuffled

Sources said that Ishaq Dar will bring his blue eyed offic als to the Finance m n str y, Federal Board of Revenue and other attach departments of the m n istr y Cha rman FBR Asim Ahmad is l kely to be removed and there are chances that former Cha rman FBR Tariq Pasha gets this s ot

Sources a so said that Ishaq Dar does not want any close aide of the PM as finance minister so he w ll not only change the State min ster for Finance Dr Aisha Ghaus Pasha and Secretar y Fi nance Hamid Yaqoob Sheikh

The Incumbent State m nister Dr Aisha Ghaus Pasha is ike y to get Eco nomic Affa rs charge S milarly Special Secretar y F nance Awais Sumra s likely to assume the Secretar y Finance s ot

He had ser ved with Ishaq Dar as a staff off cer back n 2014 and recently he was the key player in negot ations with the IMF as well In addit on shaq Dar wil br ng in a new team to the Secu r ties Exchange Commission of Pakistan

The finance ministr y has short isted eight to ten peop e for three posit ons of SECP ’ comm ss oners Sources sa d that former Chairman SECP Zafar Hejaz close aides w ll get mportant pos tions in SECP in Dar ’ tenure

Sources sa d that the F nance minis ter w l also appo nt a new Pres dent Na

tiona Bank of Pakistan as there s no Per manent President NBP

The finance ministr y last month gave extension to act ng president NBP Hasni til the appointment of a regu ar incum bent Sources also c a m that the F nance minister w ll also remove one to two deputy Governor SBP DAR TAKES OATH A S FINANCE MINISTER

Earlier today Ishaq Dar took oath as Finance Minister amid economic cr sis n the countr y According to detail Dar returned to countr y nearly after f ve years on Monday and ater took oath as member of the upper house of the par iament on Tuesday Dar, known for his preference for a stronger currency had led the finance m n str y three times in the past Dur ng his last stint as finance chief from 2013 to 2017 he managed to keep the rupee stab e t was the most stab e cur rency in As a from 2014 to 2017, ac cord ng to data compiled by Bloomberg

ISLAMABAD M i a n a b R a R

PA K I S tA N U r G E S tA l I B A N t O S t O P U S E O F A F G h A N S O I l B y t E r r O r I S t S G r O U P S A G A I N S t N E I G h B O U r S

Ex P R E S S I N G “serious” concern over terrorism originating from Afghanistan, Pakistan Tuesday called on the Taliban to prevent the Afghan territory from being utilized for attacks by terrorist groups, such as Tehrik e Taliban Pakistan (TTP) against neighbours or any other country

In particular, Ambassador Munir Akram told the UN Security Council, “eliminating the threat posed by ISIL K that is Da esh, the TTP, ETIM (East Turkestan Islamic Movement) and IMU (Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan), as well as Al Qaeda and other terrorist groups, is of vital importance for Pakistan ”

Speaking in the 15 member Council’s debate on the situation in Afghanistan, the Pakistani envoy said the recent rise in high

GB CM challenges appointment of judge, extension in SC judges’ tenure

ISLAMABAD

G h u l a M a b b a S

As earlier announced by the government of Gilgit Baltistan, the Chief Minister GB Khalid Khurshid Khan on Wednesday has approached the Supreme Court to seek a direction that Governor GB Syed Mehdi Shah has no authority to advise Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif to appoint Javed Ahmed as judge Chief Court GB The petition has also pleaded before the apex court to declare the appointment of Javed Ahmed through Sept 16 notification was without lawful authority and of no legal effect and therefore the apex court should quash such appointment The petition pleaded that the apex court should also prohibit the federal government and Governor GB from making new appointments of chief judge or judges of the Supreme Appellate Court as well as Chief Court of Gilgit Baltistan without prior advice of the CM or the cabinet GB The petition argued that on Sept 13, 2022 the governor sent a summary to the PM for the appointment of a judge of the Chief Court and recommended three names This summary was neither initiated in accordance with the relevant procedure nor was it in consequence of advice by CM or the cabinet On Sept 16 the notification being challenged was issued and Javed Ahmed was appointed as judge chief court for an initial period of one year He took oath on Sept 21, 2022 The petition pleaded that the people of GB have the right to self government under Article 257 of the constitution and that the government and the cabinet of GB comprise representatives elected by the people of the area Without being first advised by CM or the cabinet under Article 34 of the Order 2018 the governor has no authority to advise PM to appoint Javed Ahmed as judge chief court GB and therefore the appointment suffers from malice and law Therefore Javed Ahmed did not hold the office to which he had been illegally and maliciously appointed The petitioner has also pleaded that the apex court should also declare that PM and the federal government has no lawful authority to merely extend the appointment of Justice Malik Inayat ur Rehman, Justice Johar Ali Khan and Justice Raja Shakeel Ahmed for a term of one year rather duty bound to confirm such appointments Furthermore the petition pleaded the federal government should issue a fresh notification for confirmation of Justice Malik Inayat ur Rehman, Justice Johar Ali Khan and Justice Raja Shakeel Ahmed as judges of the chief court with effect from Sept 16 Earlier on Sept 15, 2021 three judges were appointed for an initial period of one year to the chief court GB by PM on advice of the governor which was in turn based on the advice of the CM

JUI-F leads in Balochistan local government elections

ISLAMABAD

The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has announced the results of local government elections held after a brief delay due to torrential rains and flash floods in 57 wards of 11 union councils in four districts of Balochistan According to consolidated results of three wards, the candidates of Jamiat Ulema e Islam Fazl (JUI F) and Pakhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party (PKMAP) secured one seat each while an independent candidate, Muhammad Qasim, won the third seat defeating a candidate of JUI F The voter turnout in these constituencies was calculated at 57 percent Jaffar Khan, another candidate of JUI F, was elected as general councillor in district Mastung by securing 68 votes He defeated Shah Muhammad, an independent candidate who secured 65 votes The turnout in this constituency was 52 76 percent Muhammad Ibrahim of PKMAP won the general seat of councillor in Loralai by securing 177 votes Sahib Khan, a Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) candidate came second after securing 165 votes The turnout was 75 69 percent

profile targeted killings and bombings, including against the Russian embassy is a cause for “special concern ”

Should we fail to provide the necessary and continued long term economic solutions to the Afghan people and to the authorities in Kabul, there is a risk of anti Taliban groups, particularly ISIL K (Da’esh)gaining further strength in the country,” he warned

We expect the Taliban to prevent Afghanistan’s territory from being utilized for

terrorism against neighbours or any other country,” Ambassador Akram, adding that Pakistan will support all sincere efforts to neutralize and eliminate these terrorist groups while fully respecting Afghanistan’s sovereignty and territorial integrity

But, Ambassador Akram said, the role of spoilers an apparent reference to India who wish to aid and abet terrorism against Pakistan from Afghan soil must also be checked and the terrorist networks they have established must

be eliminated in Afghanistan and the region, as Islamabad has a vital stake in peace and stability of the neighbouring country

Pakistan, he said, would like to see an Afghanistan that is at peace with itself and the world, and which respects and nurtures all its citizens, without regard to gender, ethnicity and religion A peaceful prosperous and connected Afghanistan is in our collective interest,” the Pakistani envoy said, pointing out that Pakistan has led the humanitarian efforts to help Afghan brothers and sisters in their present situation The Pakistani envoy urged the international community to respond positively to the UN Secretary General’s appeal for $4 2 billion in humanitarian and economic assistance to Afghanistan and release the country’s financial reserves, held by the United States, to revive its banking system

US ambassador meets

India had fired BrahMos into Pakistan under ulterior motives: Jaspal

ISLAMABAD S ta f

P

Zafar Jaspal an Islamabad based analyst and professor at the School of Politics and International Relations, Quaid i Azam University, said that Indian supersonic cruise missile Brahmos was fired from India into Pakistan in March 2022 intentionally

According to Kashmir Media Service, speaking in PTV World s prgramme VIEWS ON NEWS Zafar Jaspal said, “Our technical experts who deal with the missiles have a consensus that it [Indian BrahMos landing in Pakistan] was not a mere misjudgment, adding that had it been a misfire, the

Indian Army’s Director General of Military Operations (DGMO) would have immediately contacted his Pakistani counterpart and informed him about the incident

He said that the delay on part of India in taking Pakistan into confidence over the fire strengthened the belief that the missile was fired with other [ulterior] motives It is worth mentioning here that a Brahmos cruise missile was fired by the Indian Army from somewhere in western India and it landed at Mian Channun in Pakistan The missile was not armed, in that it did not carry a warhead, so there was no explosion and there was no damage to life or property

D ar appears before cour t in wealth c ase

ISLAMABAD S ta f f r e P o r t

Minister for Finance Ishaq Dar, who returned to the country two days ago appeared before an accountability court in Islamabad after keeping away for five years in an assets beyond means case

He was accompanied by Minister for Interior Rana Sanaullah Khan and party MP Tariq Fazal Chaudhry as judge Muhammad Bashir heard the case During the proceeding the judge questioned where he has been all this time? Dar replied he was out of the country for medical treatment and his passport had been canceled therefore he could not return

The court remarked next hearing will be conducted on the warrant dismiss plea along with the NAB’s assets reference

Afterwards, the court issued notice to the NAB and sought a detailed answer by October 7

While speaking to the media outside the court Dar said he did not have a passport for four years during Imran Khan’s time in power The minister

claimed that Khan had canceled his passport which seemed his priority He also put my name on the passport control list and later directed all embassies and high commissions to ensure that my passport is not issued to Dar, he claimed

Dar further claimed he was issued a passport two months ago after the coalition government came into power He said that he had to plan his return

“Case against me is fake the actual case was that I had not filed tax returns from 1981 to 2001,” he said I never delayed filing tax returns even for 20 minutes in more than 40 years of my life ” he claimed He lambasted the PTI leaders questioning where the ministers of Khan used to make big claims during their regime that they would bring Ishaq Dar back to the country through Interpol within two months or three months

But it could not happen because I had submitted all the tax return proofs there and it was a big slap to Imran Khan’s government that they sent me back Interpol categorically said that they found nothing against Ishaq Dar ”

l o m e m e t P u n j a b C h i e f M i n i s t e r C h a u d h r y P a r v e z E l a h i a t t h e C h i e f M i n i s t e r ’s O ff i c e o n We d n e s d a y a n d d i s c u s s e d m a t t e r s o f m u t u a l i n t e r e s t I t w a s a g r e e d t o p r o m o t e p a r t n e r s h i p i n p o p u l a t i o n p l a n n i n g , a l t e r n a t e e n e rg y, a g r i c u l t u r e a n d w a t e r m a n a g e m e n t s e c t o r s T h e C M b r i e f e d a b o u t p u b l i c w e l f a r e i n i t i a t i v e s a n d l e g i s l a t i o n f o r s a v i n g c a m p u s e s f r o m d r u g s a n d t h a n k e d t h e a m b a s s a d o r f o r e x t e n d i n g s u p p o r t t o P a k i s t a n d u r i n g t h e c o r o n a p a n d e m i c P a k i s t a n g a v e s p e c i a l i m p o r t a n c e t o i t s r e l a t i o n s w i t h t h e U S , t h e C M s a i d a n d a d d e d t h a t r e f o r m s w e r e b e i n g i n t r o d u c e d i n d i ff e r e n t s e c t o r s I n t h i s r e g a r d , t h e U S t e c h n i c a l a s s i s t a n c e w o u l d b e w e l c o m e d T h e C M s a i d t h e l e g i s l a t i o n w o u l d b e e n a c t e d t o r i d t h e e d u c a t i o n a l i n s t i t u t i o n s o f d r u g s a n d A m e r i c a n a s s i s t a n c e w o u l d b e b e n e f i c i a l i n t h i s r e g a r d P a r v e z E l a h i s a i d t h a t a s p e c i a l a n t i n a r c o t i c s f o r c e w o u l d b e e s t a b l i s h e d a n d t h o s e g i v i n g i n f o r m a t i o n a b o u t t h e s a l e a n d p u r c h a s e o f d r u g s w o u l d b e r e w a r d e d S i m i l a r l y, s p e c i a l c o u r t s w o u l d b e s e t u p t o h o l d a d a i l y t r i a l o f d r u g p u s h e r s T h e C M s t a t e d t h a t t h e P u n j a b g o v e r n m e n t w e l c o m e d t h e U S c o l l a b o r a t i o n w i t h r e g a r d t o t h e e l i m i n a t i o n o f d r u g s T h e i n c u m b e n t g o v e r n m e n t h a d r e s u m e d t h e c h a n n e l i z a t i o n o f K o h e S u l e m a n w a t e r w h e r e a s s m a l l d a m s w o u l d b e c o n s t r u c t e d a n d a p l a n h a d b e e n d e v i s e d t o c o n s t r u c t t w o b i g d a m s o n C h e n a b R i v e r H e h o p e d t h a t t h e U S a s s i s t a n c e i n R & D w o u l d y i e l d p o s i t i v e r e s u l t s t o i n c r e a s e a g r i p r o d u c t i v i t y w h i l e i t s c o o p e r a t i o n i n t h e n e w c o t t o n s e e d w o u l d s u ff i c i e n t l y i n c r e a s e c o t t o n p r o d u c t i o n I t w a s h o p e d t h a t p a r t n e r s h i p b e t w e e n t h e P u n j a b g o v e r n m e n t a n d t h e U S w o u l d b e p r o m o t e d a s t h e p r o v i n c i a l g o v e r n m e n t w a s f o l l o w i n g a p u b l i c c e n t r i c a g e n d a , t h e C M c o n c l u d e d A m b a s s a d o r D o n a l d B l o m e s a i d t h a t t h e U S g a v e g r e a t i m p o r t a n c e t o i t s r e l a t i o n s w i t h P a k i s t a n a n d t h a t c o o p e r a t i o n w i t h t h e P u n j a b g o v e r n m e n t w o u l d b e f u r t h e r p r o m o t e d U S C o n s u l G e n e r a l Wi l l i a m K M a k a n e o l e P o l i t i c a l a n d E c o n o m i c C h i e f K a t h l e e n G i b i l i s c o , f o r m e r P & D c h a i r m a n S a l m a n G h a n i , c h i e f s e c r e t a r y, C h a i r m a n P B I T F a z e e l A s i f a n d o t h e r s w e r e a l s o p r e s e n t

By-polls to two NA seats in Karachi on Oct 16: ECP

KARACHI S ta f f r e P o r t

Sindh Provincial Election Commission s spokesperson Ali Asgher Saiyyal on Wednesday denied speculations about the postponement of elections for the next few months in Sindh saying that the by polls to NA 237 Malir

and

239 Korangi Karachi I, will be held on October 16, as per schedule given by the Commission He said that the by polls in Karachi division will take place on October 23, as per schedule while as the situation improves the local body polls would also be held in Hyderabad in the light of directions of the Election Commission of Pakistan

KP flood vic tims star t rebuilding homes as winter draws nearer

PESHAWAR S ta f f r e P o r t

Mindful of upcoming harsh winter season, the flood victims of Nowshera have started reconstruction of their houses on self help basis despite soaring prices of construction materials and labor charges

Misal Khan, a retired government employee was among one of the flood victims of Nowshera district who initiated re construction of his house with a new hope and determination to complete it before the advent of harsh winter season

Belonged to village Dheri Mian Ishaq of tehsil Pabbi in Nowshera district, Misal Khan (83) was being seen

bringing construction materials including sands, bricks and stones with the help of a handcart to the construction site I along with my family members was busy in breakfast in veranda when suddenly two rooms of my house collapsed due to flash floods and torrential rains in River Kabul that inundated my entire village on August 28, 2022 , he told APP

Helped by his sons to bring construction materials from street to construction site on self help basis, Khan was working against the time before the winter season sets in,” he said We used old bricks and stones in reconstruction keeping in view the high cost of construction materials including bricks, steal and cement besides labor

cost he said adding 4 000 bricks were available to Rs 54,000 to Rs 56,000 in market that was beyond of purchasing power of low income groups retired employees and salaried class

Besides high cost of construction materials he said the labour cost was also increased after the catastrophic floods and Rs 1,000 per labour and Rs1,500 per meson have added to difficulty of flood victims Kamal Ahmad, another flood victim whose house was completely damaged by floods in his hometown Nowshera began reconstruction of his house after removing mud brought by the gushing water of River Kabul

“Floods had deprived me of all belongings including house built by my late father Hamayuan Khan and it was

very difficult for orphans like me to reconstruct it on the same architectural designs,” Kamal Ahmad, a resident of flood Nowshera told APP

Besides household items, he said the August 28 floods had taken away livestock being his only source of income

“When I woke up on the fateful day of August 28 last, I rushed towards my cattle farm located on the bank or River Kabul where I look after my animals and saw no clue of them as there was eight to 10 feet water everywhere, he said

Like Kamal and Sajid, most of flood victims of Nowshera and Charsadda were looking towards financial support of KP government to enable them to reconstruct their structure ahead of harsh winter season

IMrAN DIvIDING NAtION UNDEr hIS ‘ANtI-StAtE

AGENDA’: rANA SANAUll Ah

hungry Imran Khan was creating anarchy and chaos in the country and the audio leak had fully exposed him before the nation

FE D E R A L Minister for Interior Rana Sanaullah on Wednesday alleged that Pakistan Tehreek i Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan was bent upon dividing the nation as part of his ‘anti state agenda’, which would be nipped in the bud

Addressing a press conference after the Federal Cabinet meeting, he said a power

His so called foreign conspiracy narrative of his removal from the prime minister office had been done and dusted as Imran Khan could be heard in the audio clip asking Azam Khan (his principal secretary) to use the ‘cypher ’ for political motives the minister added

The audio clip, which also played during the press conference showed how the PTI

chief misled the people at the cost of national interests, Rana Sanaullah remarked

The minister said Imran Khan misguided students in his address at the Government College University, Lahore that his government was ousted through a foreign conspiracy, but his leaked audio revealed the real story He was voted out from the Prime Minister House through a constitutional way

Imran Khan, being ‘power hungry’, was cheating the people as evident from his another speech in which he tried to incite the

masses for marching on Islamabad, he alleged

The minister said the country s economy and political culture was destroyed during the Imran Khan led government, while Pakistan was also isolated at international level Even his allies left him for the politics of indecency pursued by the Pakistan Tehreek e Insaf chief and his poor performance on economic front

He said ironically, Imran Khan spoke

parted their ways with him

Court testifies two witnesses; puts off Rawalpindi Ring Road scam till Oct 6

LAHORE

S ta f f r e P o r t

An Anti Corruption Court on Wednesday recorded statements of two witnesses and adjourned the hearing in Rawalpindi Ring Road scam till October 6

Anti Corruption Court Judge Mushtaq Elahi conducted proceedings

of the case and directed the two witnesses former Rawalpindi Development Authority (RDA) director Ammara Khan and director contracts Ilyas Khan to appear for cross examination on next hearing on Oct 6

Former Rawalpindi commissioner (r) Capt Muhammad Mahmood and two

Minister says taking measures to prevent floodborne infectious diseases

ISLAMABAD S ta f f r e P o r t

Pakistan has been taking special measures to prevent flood borne diseases after catastrophic floods affected over 33 million people in the country, Minister for National Health Services Abdul Qadir Patel said on Wednesday Currently the provision of timely and quality healthcare facilities and complete rehabilitation of flood victims are among the top priorities of the government as many districts remained inundated by floodwaters, the minister said He said that the government would utilise all available resources to assist the flood victims in rescue and relief and rehabilitation of the people and infrastructure in the flood affected areas Besides already established special medical camps in the flood affected area, nearly 50 more medical camps are being set up and the number is being increased to prevent infectious diseases, Patel said, adding that all the basic health facilities including medicines vaccinations and counseling are being provided in the medical camps

UK aid for flood victims arrives

ISLAMABAD a P P

Thousands of emergency shelters water purifiers and hygiene kits from the UK arrived in Pakistan from Dubai on Tuesday The aid items were paid for by the British government as part of a £41 5 million pledge to support millions of people displaced by floods in Pakistan Emergency shelters are intended for up to 187 050 people while water filters and hygiene supplies should be enough for up to 31,282 people Pallets loaded up into shipping containers will arrive in Karachi within five days and life saving supplies will be delivered to the worst affected areas Catastrophic flooding has left more than 250 000 square kilometres of land submerged, displacing 33 million people and destroying huge stretches of farmland as global food prices rice More than 1,600 people have been killed and about 2 million homes have been destroyed Heavy monsoon rains that fell in mid June added to a severe heatwave that melted glaciers and caused flooding across the country

other accused appeared in the court and marked their attendance

During hearing, the two witnesses Ammara Khan and Ilyas Khan recorded their statements in the presence of defence counsel

The court had indicted the former commission and two others in the ring road scam The Punjab ACE had

registered a case against the accused for their alleged involvement in the Ring Road scam after a detailed inquiry

It was alleged that the accused were guilty of corruption and misuse of authority They illegally changed design of the project to add new interchanges and increased length of the road from 22km to 68km

S harif felicitates S audi crown prince on becoming prime minister

ISLAMABAD S ta f f r e P o r t

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has sent a congratulatory message to the crown prince of Saudi Arabia, Mohammed bin Salman, who the king, Salman bin Abdulaziz, named as the kingdom’s prime minister through a royal decree on Tuesday

“I extend my heartiest felicitations to Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman on his appointment as PM We are confident that under his dynamic and visionary leadership the kingdom is destined to prosper [and] our bilateral relations will further deepen,” he tweeted on Wednesday

The crown prince known as MbS is promoted from defence minister and has been the de facto ruler of Saudi Arabia, the world s biggest oil exporter and a major U S ally in the Middle East

His new role as prime minister is in line with the king s previous delegation of duties to him, including representing the kingdom on foreign visits and chairing summits hosted by the kingdom, a Saudi official told Reuters HRH the crown prince, based on the king s

orders, already supervises the main executive bodies of the state on a daily basis, and his new role as prime minister is within that context,” said the official, who declined to be identified

Historically, such delegation of duties has taken place in the kingdom several times, the official said The crown prince said the kingdom has increased its self sufficiency in military industries to 15 percent from 2 percent and plans to reach 50 percent under his brother the newly appointed defence minister Prince Khalid, state news agency SPA reported

President urges universities to foc us on R&D to produce quality manpower

ISLAMABAD

President Dr Arif Alvi on Wednesday urged the universities to focus on Research and Development (R&D) activities to produce quality and skilled manpower which was needed for expeditious socio economic development of the country

The president, chairing a follow up meeting on the National University of Modern Languages (NUML), Islamabad said that hiring qualified committed and professional faculty was of paramount importance for imparting the latest knowledge and for the intellectual development of the graduates

He emphasized that universities should adopt innovative and creative techniques to increase the number of students and graduates by adopting hybrid and online teaching methodologies He also emphasized that all stakeholders in the education sector should further improve their intellectual and psychological skill set, and embrace policies, rules and regulations compatible with the market driven needs of educational

institutions and the students to meet the exponentially increasing market demand for skilled human resources, especially in the IT sector

President Alvi said that education was the biggest source of socio economic development, therefore, it was inevitable to train and educate youth to empower them financially and economically He expressed his concern over the brain drain witnessed by the country in the previous years The president underscored that we should also make all possible efforts to keep the educated youth within the country by providing equitable opportunities so that they could serve as the engine of growth for the economy and socio economic development of the country He emphasized that as per the requirement of the market, the universities should offer two years Associate Degree Courses or appropriate diploma courses for those sectors where the market needed an immediate inflow of trained and educated human resources, like the IT sector The president highlighted the importance of learning international languages which, he said, provided means for enriching insight and wisdom through literature, science and other knowledge produced in these languages

C hinese entrepreneurs encouraged to invest in SEZs

BEIJING

S ta f f r e P o r t

Chinese entrepreneurs are being encouraged to invest in Pakistan’s Special Economic Zones (SEZs), speakers said at Webinar He said, Pakistan has one of the most free trade and investment regimes in the world and is likely the freest one in South Asia The establishment of SEZs is a flagship initiative of the Pakistani government to attract FDI

Pakistan attaches high importance to its trade and investment relations with China, which is the largest source of foreign direct investment into Pakistan We hope to enhance the understanding of our Chinese friends about Pakistan s investment environment

On the Punjab (Pakistan) YRD Region (China) Webinar on Investment Opportunities in Targeted SEZs of Punjab jointly organized by Punjab Board of Investment and Trade (PBIT) and Consulate General of Pakistan in Shanghai Jalal Hassan, CEO of PBIT said in his opening remarks that there are ten special economic zones in Punjab and more economic zones and enterprises are in the pipeline

The CEO believes that CPEC is the utmost priority of the government and the people of Pakistan He added, “we must also consider trimming a policy on green investments under CPEC as Pakistan will work for the next couple of years on post rehabilitation of Pakistan, which have been severely affected by the floods ”

Sohail Qadri, Head of China and South East Desk,

PBIT, added that Punjab s SEZs are hubs for key industrial sectors such as textile, agriculture, food processing, FMCGetrial Estate Development and Management Company and Faisalabad Industrial Estate Development and Management Company presented the responsibilities, achievements, key projects, service content, preferential policies, etc of the SEZs in Punjab Nearly 50 Chinese companies attended the webinar, where they raised questions about specific land policies, employment policies, and policies for photovoltaic power and energy projects

The representatives said that Pakistan has specific policies and successful cases in this regard and warmly welcomed Chinese entrepreneurs to invest and do business in Punjab

had some

foreign conspiracy

The government would ensure forensic audit of the audio while the media and civil society organizations should also check its veracity, he added The national interests were at stake due to the person who was working on a ‘hidden agenda’ or ‘agenda of his masters’, the minister alleged

Responding to queries of the journalists Rana Sanaullah said no one would be allowed to have political point scoring, and those involved in harming the national interests would be exposed The ‘mastermind of conspiracy drama’ was Imran Khan and we will have to get rid of such anti state elements”, he added

resurgence of terrorism won’t be tolerated, COAS tells Commanders Conference

CONTINUED fROM PAGE 01

Gen Bajwa also appreciated army engineers and the Frontier Works Organisation (FWO) for restoring accessibility to critical routes and communication infrastructure on an emergency basis The presser stated that the COAS directed army formations to focus on relief rehabilitation and reconstruction and to help restore routine life in flood struck regions

reshuffle of economic team on cards as Dar spells priorities

CONTINUED fROM PAGE 01

Ishaq Dar expressed satisfaction over the appreciation of rupee over the last two days saying this has reduced our loans The Federal Minister said the country is currently faced with worst economic crisis because of mismanagement of previous government of PTI He said it was because of the efforts of former Finance Minister Miftah Ismail that the country averted default He however said that the mess left behind the PTI government could not be cleared in six months Ishaq Dar regretted that the PTI government during its last days in office violated the international agreements to take political mileage As regards the case against him, Ishaq Dar said it is a fake He said he has been a consistent taxpayer over the last 34 years and that he never delayed his tax returns He said the previous government also cancelled his passport and it was the current coalition government which issued him a passport

NSC forms high-powered panel to probe audio leaks fiasco

CONTINUED fROM PAGE 01

The committee lauded the role of Pakistan Army Pakistan Navy and Air Force in saving the lives of the flood victims, shifting the affected persons to safer places and providing food and other items to the people surrounded by the floods Paying tribute to the officers and men, who were martyred in the helicopter crash in Lasbela, Balochistan the participants said that the nation salutes its martyrs and their families in true spirit Foreign Secretary Sohail Mehmood briefed the meeting on Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif ’s recent participation in the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) Council of Heads of State in Uzbekistan and the 77th session of the United Nations General Assembly in New York

N Korea fires two ballistic missiles on eve of harris trip

North Korea fired two short range ballistic missiles on Wednesday, Seoul’s military said, just days after Pyongyang’s last test and ahead of a visit to South Korea by US Vice President Kamala Harris The launches, part of a record breaking blitz of weapons tests this year by North Korea, came after Seoul’s spy agency warned that Pyongyang was close to conducting another nuclear test South Korea s military said it had detected two short range ballistic missiles fired from the Sunan area in Pyongyang” “Our military has reinforced monitoring and surveillance and is maintaining utmost readiness in close coordination with the United States, Seoul s Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a statement Japan’s coast guard also identified a possible ballistic missile launch, citing information from Tokyo’s defence ministry, and warned ships to be aware

moral courage then he should approach the Supreme Court for an inquiry into his own

AhsAn Asks provinCiAl AdministrAtion to CheCk undue profiteering

IsLamabad S ta f f R e p o R t

mI N I S T E R for Planning, Devel opment and Special Initiatives Professor Ahsan Iqbal on Wednesday directed provincial administration to strictly moni tor the profiteering and take all the associa tions in the loop to transfer relief to the peoples

He said this while chairing the meeting of National Price Monitoring Committee (NPMC) to assess the implementation status of the decisions taken in the previous NPMC meeting, said a press release

Ahsan Iqbal also directed to discourage

the undue profiteering by retailers and to take concrete measures in this regard as there were huge gaps in the prices of wholesale and retail markets

The minister also directed the Provincial governments and Islamabad administration to make concerted efforts to mitigate the profit margins between the wholesale and re tail prices of the essential items

Chief Economist Dr Nadeem Javaid Officials from Ministry of Finance, line Min istries, FBR, Trading Corporation of Pak istan Utility Stores Corporation of Pakistan (USC), Pakistan Agricultural Storage & Services Corporation Limited (PASSCO), and representatives of Provincial govern ments attended the meeting

Cases on rise as dengue onslaught continues in Balochistan

QUETTa

Balochistan continues to see an alarming surge in dengue cases amid recent outbreak in the aftermath of the devastating floods “A total of 177 dengue fever cases were reported across Balochistan during the last couple of days ” Additional Secretary Health Qaseem Khan Kakar told APP on Wednesday He noted that ma jority cases were been reported from the coastal belt of Balochistan including Kech Lasbela and Gwadar As many as 96 cases of dengue disease were reported from Kech district of Balochistan,” he added Lasbella which was earlier reported as the worst calamity hit area of the province and now the worst hit in terms of dengue cases as the district reported 46 new cases, while Gwadar reported 35 cases he said Around 2 830 posi tive cases of dengue virus were reported from Ketch this year, the additional secretary said Likewise, 391 cases had been reported from Gwadar and 103 from Lasbela However, no case of dengue had been reported in Quetta, the provincial capital of Balochistan, he in formed The number of dengue cases reported this year was 3,364, he said

In the light of the recent floods and its impact on staple food commodities includ ing wheat, potatoes, tomatoes and other crops the minister reviewed the measure taken by the concerned departments and the subsequent impact on the trend in prices of essential items

Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) pre sented the report on Sensitive Price Index (SPI) It was reported that prices of 10 essen tial items including electricity, tomatoes, LPG Cylinder, Banana, Garlic, Pulse Ma soor Cooking Oil etc had been reduced dur ing the last one week The report on commodities with increased prices including wheat was also presented

The estimate taken from various

Tay yaba Gul

provinces covering 17 cities was also dis cussed in the meeting It is to be noted that Sensitive Price Index (SPI) is computed on weekly basis to assess the price movement of essential commodities at shorter interval of time to review prices situation in the country

Competition Commission of Pakistan submitted analytical review on the profiteer ing phenomena all over the country

Ministry of Industries apprised that there was a significant decline in the palm oil prices in the International Market, however, the impact of the sharp decline in interna tional market will be passed on with a lag in the local market

Minister directed Ministry of Industries to ensure the deceleration in the prices of

Ghee/ edible oil by Rs 20 within the next one month

The meeting was informed that due to floods devastation, the commodities supplies have been drastically reduced impacting the overall price rise The Minister stressed that the supply of wheat from Laya should have substantive impact on the prices of wheat in Baluchistan

allegations: LHC suspends commission’s

ta f f R e p o R t

The Lahore High Court (LHC) on Wednesday sus pended proceedings of a commission formed to probe allegations levelled by Tayyaba Gul, against former Na tional Accountability Bureau (NAB) Lahore director general Shahzad Saleem

LHC Chief Justice Muhammad Ameer Bhatti passed the orders while hearing a petition filed by the former NAB Lahore DG challenging formation of the commission and issuance of notices to him

The petitioners’ counsel Safdar Shaheen Pirzada ar gued in the court that matter of the harassment allega tions was already pending with an accountability court and the Federal Shariat Court whereas the Public Ac

counts Committee (PAC) had also taken its notice

He submitted that despite the pendency of the matter in courts and PAC the federal government formed an in quiry commission to probe the allegations and it had il legally issued notices to his client He contended that the step of formation of the commission was illegal as the commission could only be formed in public interest mat ters, under the law He pleaded with the court to set aside the notification of formation of the commission and also suspend the operation of the notices issued to his client He also requested to suspend the proceedings of the com mission and notices till the final decision of the petition

The court, after hearing arguments, suspended the

reply from the respondents till October 18

HEC scholarships for undergraduate GB students

annum will also be awarded

The Higher Education Commission (HEC) has announced a merit based un dergraduate scholarship programme to enable deserving students from the Gilgit Baltistan region to afford educa tion in top institutions across Pakistan

The applications are invited from students who intend to pursue under graduate studies four or five year honour programmes from “HEC recognised public sector universities and degree awarding institutions

The scholarships will be offered for

the academic year 2022 23 in all disci plines under the “Undergraduate Schol arship Programme for the Students of Gilgit Baltistan in top Pakistani Univer sities/Institutions (Batch II)” the com mission said The deadline for receipt of applications is October 24

Applicants who are already receiv ing a government scholarship are not el igible for the grant The upper age limit is 22 on the closing date of submission

The candidates are also required to meet HEC and university criteria for admis sion to Bachelor of Science (BS) degree programmes Those already enrolled in a four year programme in a government

institution are eligible to apply

The applicants are required to have a domicile or certificate of residence in Gilgit Baltistan, and have completed a secondary school certificate (SSC) or higher secondary school certificate (HSSC), or equivalent However, prior ity will be given to students who have completed their matriculation, or equiv alent education, from the region

The grant will cover tuition and hos tel fees, and miscellaneous charges to the tune of Rs240,000 a year which the com mission said will be in addition to a stipend of Rs15,000 Similarly, a books and travel allowance of Rs30,000 an

Any expenditure over the grant will be borne by the student themself, the commission said

The candidates will be shortlisted based on their scores in an aptitude test which will be conducted by Education Testing Council HEC and academic credentials Test results will be valid for one year after the announcement of the announcement date The commission fur ther said the award of scholarships will be purely merit based and irrespective of gender caste race and religion It has re quested the applicants to submit online applications at an HEC portal

IsLamabad S ta f f R e p o R t

EU will provide € 265 million under the six year multi indicative programme (MIP) Deputy Head of South and SouthEast Asia of the Brussels based European Commission Ian Hoskins has disclosed this in a sub group meet ing of Development cooperation of the Pakistan EU He said that the EU will provide € 265 mil lion during the first three years in areas of Green

Inclusive Growth, Human Capital and Gover nance, including the Rule of Law (ROL) and Human Rights (HR)

It is pertinent to note that the European Union’s total ongoing portfolio in Pakistan is worth € 630 19 million for 38 projects Since 2001 over € 1 9 Billion have been provided to Pakistan The Flood Relief Assistance from the European

Union to Pakistan amounts to € 44 24 million

Meanwhile, Pakistan and European Union agreed on multifaceted development coopera tion agenda in a number of sectors such as smart agriculture, economic growth, sustain able infrastructure technical and vocational ed ucation, climate and green development, digital transformation and health at the conclusion of the annual meeting of the Sub Group on Devel opment cooperation of the Pakistan EU Joint Commission at Ministry of Economic Affairs

During the meeting with an emphasis on cooperation in the rehabilitation and recon struction of flood stricken areas and people of Pakistan both sides discussed the level of pres ent development cooperation and resolved to deepen their relation for the socio economic development of Pakistan

“We are here to commit that the European

Union will, under its Multi Indicative Pro gramme (MIP) support the economic and social development of Pakistan and integrate post flood rehabilitation and reconstruction into the existing plan, which we consider of paramount importance for the people of Pakistan” said Ian Hoskins during the meeting

While welcoming the support of the EU the Co chair for Pakistan said We appreciate and hugely value the support being provided by the EU over decades and are very thankful to the immediate relief assistance of the EU during the recent climate calamity”

The Sub group meeting took stock of the implementation of the Multiyear Indicative Plan, the Annual Action Plan; the post flood rehabilitation and reconstruction and how to cope with it; and reviewed the progress of on going EU funded projects

Rival politicians in Gilgit Baltistan united to up lift the picturesque but underdeveloped region in a “meaningful and productive” meeting of the Gilgit Development Authority (GDA) convened to discuss various projects The meeting was at tended by Minister for Planning and Informa tion Fatehullah Khan from Pakistan

Tehreek i Insaf (PTI) and leader of the opposi tion Amjad Hussain of the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) A source in the office of the regional chief secretary called the meeting a “great spec tacle It was great to witness collaborative ef forts by rival political parties who set aside their political differences and joined hands to work for the betterment of the region he said of the meeting, also attended by Mohyuddin Ahmad Wani, the chief secretary Wani later was invited

by Minister of Finance Javed Ali Manwa who asked him to meet leaders from his community

“I was pleasantly surprised to see his political opponent, whom he had defeated by a narrow margin as a guest of honour [at the event] Wani said of the meeting Wani, who was posted to the region in April, said he really appreciated the parties sitting across the aisle in the regional legislative assembly working together in the best interest of Gilgit

IsLamabad

LaHORE

GILGIT

wah industries, Fedarms, US sign LoU for joint production of aKm series guns

ISlAmAbAd

M/s Wah Industries Limited, a subsidiary of Pakistan Ordnance Factories and M/s FedArms, USA have signed a LOU to establish joint production of AKM series guns (Auto/Semi Auto) The LOU was signed in presence of POF & WIL Board Members Accord ing to LOU M/s FedArms will provide part kits test ing protocols, technical pack, complete process layout in addition to imparting training to WIL/POF workforce Both the companies have agreed for es tablishment of assembly of AR 15 and FR 15 Series Guns (Auto/Semi Auto) The production line will have the capability to produce 4 x calibers; 9 x 19 mm, 7 62 x 39 mm, 7 62 x 51 mm and 5 56 x 45 mm

It is worth mentioning that the weapon will be sup plied to Pakistani end users as well as its exports to friendly countries establishment of Primer Plant is also a part of LOU Plant & Machinery for establish ment of facility will be provided by M/s FedArm Capacity of the project will be around 500 Million primers/annum M/s FedArm are willing to invest in the form of ToT provisioning of plant and machinery whereas POF/WIL would provide space, manpower and utilities Our exports strategy mainly includes high quality products price competitiveness short delivery schedules, diversification into the new prod uct lines backed by strong proactive marketing en deavours Our exports to over 40 countries in the Far east, Middle east, europe, USA and Africa speak of our success and confidence of customers POF’s par ticipation in a number of International Defence exhi bitions has also opened new linkages for POF We are accessible to the entire world through our website www pof gov pk

KP amending BoK act to emPower Board to aPPoint md

the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government has tabled the Bank Khyber Amendment Bill in the provincial as sembly aims at delegating powers to the board of directors for appointment of the Managing Direc tor of the bank

According to the bank sources, the government along with the pri vate shareholders is amending the act to handover management affairs to 25% fed shareholders With the amendments proposed by the provincial government, the power of the MD Appointment will shift from the provincial government to the board, which will further strengthen hold of the private share holder on the bank

According to bank sources, with the approval of the board of new managing director, the number of bank members of the private share holder will increase With these

amendments, the vote of the MD of the bank will be inclined towards pri vate shareholder The bank sources said that the post of foreign member in the BoK board has been vacant since 2003

When contacted, BoK Managing Director Muhammad Ali Gul Faraz said that the amendments to the BoK Act are the discretion of the Provin cial Government and the Finance Department he said the existing amendments were proposed by the Provincial Government and the Finance Depart ment however, Finance Minister Taimur Khan Jhagra was not avail able for comments

Sardar hussain Babak, provin cial parliamentary leader of Awami National Party, said that the PTI gov ernment is destroying the only finan cial institution of the province he said, Assets of the bank are being distributed to favorites by the PTI government ”

Babak said that for the past nine years the ruling party despite hav

t

ing more shares of Bank of Khyber, is constantly busy rewarding the people on political and personal grounds through amendments in the Bank Act he said that due to the personal interest of the finance minister, the firm was changed and the services o f a n o t h e

favorite MD with a monthly salary o

resources

The ANP leader said that despite the fact that most of the assets of Bank of Khyber belong to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, it is being transferred to Islamabad with the connivance of the bank administration and the provincial finance minister “Despite having a big building for the bank head office in Peshawar a space has been acquired on rent worth millions of rupees in Gulberg Green, Islam abad in which the bank’s IT system has already been shifted and now the bank will recruit 160 employees for it ” the ANP leader said

Sindh offering Rs25b subsidy on flour: Ministers

three-day photography, ar t exhibition concludes at Pnca

islamabad: Three day photography exhibition with reference to International Tourism Day con cluded on Wednesday in Pakistan National Council of the Arts (PNCA) in a colorful prize distribution ceremony of photographic and art competitions A total of six cash prizes were given to the winners of painting competition The winners were included Ilyas Allaah Buksh, Yawer Talib, Amjad Imdad Rashdi, Abdul Baqi, Altaf Noori, Zulfiqar Ali, Muza mil hussain Toori, Asif hussain and Shahbaz Ahmed The exhibition of paintings and heritage Crafts from Rohtas Fort a UNeSCO World her itage Site was on display at Pakistan National Coun cil of the Arts (PNCA) Art works showcasing collection by as many as 13 talented artists from across the country were on exhibit experimented with oil, acrylic and watercolor mediums to promote sus tainable and responsible tourism at the World her itage Site of Rohtas Fort The event was organized by Pakistan Tourism Development Corporation (PTDC), Sustainable Tourism Foundation Pakistan (STFP) in collaboration UNeSCO Islamabad and Italian Agency for Development Cooperation (AICS), PNCA and Serena hotels Sustainable Tourism Foundation Pakistan (STFP) with support of AICS and technical assistance by UNeSCO Is lamabad in collaboration with the Directorate Gen eral of Archaeology Punjab carried out a series of interventions to engage the local community living around Rohtas Fort in safeguarding cultural heritage between

cda chairman opens nadra verification centre at citizen Facilitation centre

ISlAmAbAd

Capital Development Authority Chairman Captain (Retd) Muhammad Usman Younis inaugurated NADRA Verification Center at Citizen Facilitation Center on Wednesday On this occasion, the officers of the relevant departments were also with him On this occasion, Chairman Capital Development Au thority Captain (R) Muhammad Usman Younis said that the establishment of NADRA Verification Center will provide the best facilities to the applicants, espe cially the affectees of Islamabad Similarly, after es tablishing NADRA verification center no third party will be able to file claims in CDA on behalf of the af fectees This counter will help eliminate chances and complaints of fraud with affectess of Islamabad Chairman Capital Development Authority further said that transparency is being ensured in all matters of CDA Similarly, various steps are being taken to provide more facilities to the citizens coming to the CDA Citizen Facilitation Center he further said delay in disposal of applications will not be tolerated and will personally monitor the delay in applications due to unnecessary reasons Later, Chairman Capital Development Authority Captain (R) Muhammad Usman Younis visited the Citizen Facilitation Center and reviewed the facilities being provided he further directed that all available resources should be utilized for the further facilitation of Citizens he further di rected that a dashboard be established through which the applications collected at one window operations can be monitored he directed that access of this dashboard be provided in the Chairman office he also said that action will be taken against those who are delaying these files due to unjustified

Provincial Ministers Sharjeel Inam Memon Syed Nasir hussain Shah and Mukesh Kumar Chawla have said that millions of Pakistanis af fected by floods are worried their re habilitation should be the priority of all of us They added that the biggest problem in the country is the rehabil itation of the flood victims, it is not the time for politics The minister said that our entire leadership Sindh Chief Minister, Sindh Cabinet mem bers, MPAs, MNAs are focusing on providing maximum relief to the people of Sindh They said that the government of Sindh has taken a big step to provide relief to the people in inflation and started providing flour to the people at Rs65 per kg at 700 places across Sindh from yesterday They expressed these views while addressing a joint press conference at the Sindh Archives Complex on Wednesday Provincial Information Minister Sharjeel Inam Memon said that for the convenience of the pub lic, flour is being provided to the people at discounted rates through shops, stalls and mobile trucks across the province he said that Deputy Commis sioners and Assistant Commissioners have been strictly instructed to en sure that it is not misused he said that the list of 700 cen ters and their mobile numbers have been published in all major newspa pers for public information Provin cial Food Minister Mukesh Kumar

Chawla said that the Sindh govern ment is giving a subsidy of Rs 25 billion on the supply of discounted flour to the people he said that atta has been made available on 80 per cent of the designated centers/points today Flour will be available at 100% centers in a couple of days he said that 8 lakh sacks of wheat are re quired daily in the whole of Sindh, while 4 lakh sacks of wheat are re quired daily in Karachi he said that 25,000 bags of flour were made available in Karachi yesterday, which were all sold by the evening he said that after the supply of of flour at subsidies rates , the prices of ordinary flour will also decrease in the market he said that government is ensuring to provide the people flour of good quality There was a complaint yesterday in this regard, Such mills will be bl acklisted and their government quota of wheat will be stopped he said that for the first time, they are ensuring the availability of sub sidies flour even at big superstores ,

because people from all classes shop at these stores Sindh Provincial In formation Minister Sharjeel Inam Memon further said that relief activ ities are under way in the province As many as 355384 tents 358998 plastic tarpaulins, 2676473 mosquito nets, 776313 liters of mineral water, 49919 kitchen sets and other items have been distributed among the vic tims, while 950224 families have been provided ration bags Replying to a question, he said that the factory of audio leaks has been opened After the audio leaks of Imran Khan his real face has been exposed In front of public it is an eyer opener for public The person who entered into power corridors through back doors had put country's relations on stakes for his personal and political interests

The minister added that had pushed the country into a difficult situation he (Imran Khan) has been playing with national integrity On the question of audio leak of PM house the minister said that it is a serious matter

message of chief of naval Staff on world maritime day 2022

KARACHI

World Maritime Day is celebrated every year to focus on the importance of shipping safety mar itime security and marine environment This year, the theme of World Maritime Day is New Tech nologies for Greener Shipping’ Shipping is the most efficient and cost effective method of interna tional transportation, facilitating commerce and global trade to create prosperity among nations and people In order to reap the benefits of shipping in the long run, its sustainability will be a key priority as its volume continues to grow This necessitates energy efficiency, new technology and innovation, maritime education and training, maritime traffic management and development of maritime infra structure, of international standards It is estimated that the shipping industry releases around 3% of world s Carbon Dioxide into the atmosphere on an nual basis contributing sizably to the overall impact on climate change Therefore, in order to curtail global warming IMO has made it obligatory for ships to slash to half, respective Green house Gas (GhG) emissions under the concept of Greener Shipping by 2050 This year s theme reflects the need for greener transition of maritime sector for its sustainable future, in line with the UN Sustainable Development Goals Greener shipping calls for new technologies that enable production of fuels which are clean, cost effective and increase energy effi ciency of ships Moreover efficient ports through their digitization is needed to complement such a transition Newer technologies must therefore, aim to reduce and prevent any adverse impacts on the marine environment and its biodiversity

PMC decides MDC AT exam to be held from Nov 13 to 20th

ISlAmAbAd

The Pakistan Medical Commission Coun cil meeting held at PMC Office

The council considered several agenda items of the PMC related to dif ferent issues The Council members unan imously decided that the MDCAT exam shall be held on 13th or 20th of November 2022 The exam will be conducted by PMC through the provincial public uni versity in all the provinces, ICT on one day at the same time The following uni versities were decided to hold the MDCAT examination for Pakistani stu dents i e Bolan University of Medical & health Sciences (Baluchistan)University of health Sciences Lahore (Punjab), Khy ber Medical University Peshawar (KPK), Dow University of health sciences Karachi (Sindh),Shaheed Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto Medical University Islamabad (ICT AJK Gilgit Baltistan) It was de cided that the pass percentage of MBBS will be 55% and BDS will be 45% The Council relaxed the pass percentage to help students to get adjusted in Pakistani Medical dental colleges as last year al most 20000 students went abroad to get

admissions in foreign medical dental col leges which resulted in a huge financial loss to Pakistan It was decided that NUMS affiliated colleges MDCAT exam will be conducted by PMC through NUMS separately and only those students can appear in these colleges who intends to get admission in only these colleges It was decided as PMA long courses should not be disturbed The examination shall be paper based manual exam and the an swers sheets will be uploaded on the exam holding universities and PMC web site on the same day It was also decided to extend 10 days for registration of MDCAT exam with PMC the portal has been opened for the same The Council decided to conduct the MDCAT exam for foreign students in Saudi Arabia and UAe due to the maximum number of students in these countries Other countries had very low number of students and time dif ference due to which it was not possible to make centers there Center details of these countries will be uploaded on PMC website Those foreign students residing in any other country who want to appear in MDCAT exam can appear in Pakistan or in these two countries which are feasi ble for them The Council deliberated on

the NLe examination and unanimously decided to hold the NLe step 1 exam in the last week of October 2022 and NLe step 2 exam in the last week of November for foreign graduates The Council also decided that the NLe examination for local Students shall be conducted through their degree awarding Universities under the umbrella of PMC It was unanimously decided to reduce the pass percentage of NLe 1 & NLe 2 from 70% to 50% but it will not be used as retrospective The Council decided that the basic postgrad uate degrees of the doctors shall be regis tered with the PMC however foreign medical dental postgraduate qualifica tions shall be scrutinized and after due process shall be registered with PMC

President Prof Dr Noushad A shaikh ap prised the council regarding the WFMe accreditation progress he was pleased to apprise that PMC has been accepted as el igible for WFMe accreditation he added that a task force committee has been con stituted to look after the WFMe further development of accreditation The Coun cil was apprised that a time frame has been made by the task force and within a few months all the necessary actions shall be taken in this regard to secure the future

of our students and doctors

The Council decided that the inspec tions of medical dental colleges shall be carried out by the PMC

The Council unanimously decided to renew the doctors registration certificates from 2 year to 5 years and those doctors who are 60 year and above shall renew their registration certificate will have to pay 50 % of the total fee The Council has also decided to remove /finish the path ways and categories of all the interna tional medical and dental colleges List of registered /approved medical and dental colleges shall be uploaded on PMC WeBSITe It was decided that regional offices in Karachi, Muzaferabad and Gilgit shall also be established at the ear liest to facilitate the general public and doctors

The meeting was attended by the fol lowing members presided by the Presi dent PMC Dr Noushad Ahmad Shaikh, Dr Khurshid Ahmad Nasim (V P), Lt General Nigar Johar, Dr Muhammad Fakhr e Alam, Mr Jawad Amin Khan, Barrister Ch Sultan Mansoor, M Shabbir Kasbati, Professor Dr Naqibullah Achakzai, Professor Dr Muhammad Zubair Khan

KARACHI S tA f f r e p o r t

PESHAWAR

Idealism and ground realities

SP E A K I N G at Washington s Woodrow Wilson Centre Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari urged the USA and China to cooperate to save the planet from climate change and not fight As he put it We will not save our planet if China and the US do not work together on climate ” While one may share Bilawal’s sentiment, there is little chance of its getting materialized for two reasons First, there is little willingness in Washington to stand up to the strong carbon lobby which is deadly opposed to measures that harm its material interest Second, the USA which finds itself being surpassed by China as an economic power, is wiling to use all measures to stop China from overtaking it

thanks the strong influence of the fossil fuel industry, the USA is the only major economy in the world without a national climate policy the carbon lobby enjoys influence in both the parties that continue to rule the USA Climate change has been among the top priorities of the Biden Administration whose actions on the issue include rejoining the Paris Climate Agreement and passage of an infrastructure bill with funding for renewable energy What happened to Biden’s energy programme should however be an eye opener While it had its shortcomings, it had come after major activist campaigns and the Sanders movement the final blow to the programe was indeed delivered by coal baron and Democrat Senator Joe Manchin, who had been chipping away at the programme steadily and finally declared that he’d accept nothing meaningful After Biden being more than a year in office, the public in the country remains divided with 47 percent saying these climate policies are taking the country in the wrong direction

Currently the USA is trying all it can to contain the growing influence of China in the world particularly South East Asia the measure employed by the USA include encouraging countries near China to join hands against Beijing the purpose of the Quad mechanism is to encircle China the USA also wants India to stand up against China and Pakistan to cooperate with India Whether the policy works or not, it has had the support of successive Republican and Democrat Administrations

Despite claims of “maintaining a free and open Indo Pacific region,” the Quad mechanism is engaged in splitting the region and inciting various forces to oppose China Any possibility of cooperation has been replaced by a growing antipathy

I m r a n ’ s d e s p e r a t i o n

tH I N G S are not going well for PtI chief Imran Khan as his latest speech at Government College University seemed to show desperation It was almost as if he knew that the early elections he had been and still is demanding were not going to come His continuing to attack the military, without calling it by its right name showed that the reported meeting or meetings he is supposed to have had with the COAS, had indeed ended as reported, without any understanding the message has apparently been conveyed to him that elections cannot be held, not until there has been a modicum of recovery from the floods, which means that the elections are to be held on schedule, after the completion of the tenure of the current National Assembly

this frustration of the leader has been transferred to the party, as is virtually inevitable when the party leader is accorded the kind of status associated more with cult leaders the disarray has started to become visible, with the exchange of barbs between party spokesman Fawad Chaudhry and senior lawyer Hamid Khan though it was known that there was little love lost between the two the differences would probably have been papered over had the party had less of a feeling that it was going to go nowhere Perhaps most importantly, the inability of the party leader to prevent this clash of individuals springing into the open, is an indication that things are not going well in the PtI’s inner circle

And that is the part of the party that is best aware of how things are going As Mr Khan had been used, both in government and before, to practice politics with the help of crutches, the absence of those crutches will be felt strongly, and will also be felt in the party as a whole the PtI had been staying energized because there was a hope that the party would hold office soon, and stay there for a long time that hope underpinned the PtI’s narrative, buts fading has meant disarray in the party’s ranks

Can Nawaz Sharif save the establishment?

an ideological base, Nawaz Sharif ’s cobbled an al liance of interests that was interested in increasing its wealth Corruption was institutionalized during this period the party was bestowed with all kinds of fa vors including absolute majority not once but twice (1997, 2013)

After 1971, the establishment has again been cor nered by an honest political leader All attempts to tarnish his image have failed the corrupt are now on the run With the help of his mentors NS did manage to escape his jail term but his reputation followed him the chants of Chor are a daily routine outside his hideout in London

It is widely believed that a chain is as strong as the weakest link After a long time, the powerful establishment is on the back foot desperately in need of a saviour It was the first usurper who introduced corrupt politicians to maximize their influence and to exercise control He created his own brand of Pakistan Muslim League (Convention) Ch Zahoor Elahi, a dismissed Police Constable, was given an important position in the new party After the fall of the dictator in March 1969 the party had to bite the dust in the first free and fair elections held in the year 1970 With the surrender in the Armed Forces in the Eastern Wing the establishment was in disarray and cornered taking advantage of the situation, Zuklfiqar Ali Bhutto (ZAB) consolidated civilian authority the 1973 constitution was also a gift of this democratic era Unfortunately, it was short lived (1971 to 1977), the anti democratic forces connived to get rid of the Quaid e Awam pushing the country into the Zia Dark Ages from which it is still to recover those in bar racks moved in to the corridors of power Zia tried to neutralize the popularity of ZAB s party He discovered the Sharifs of Lahore, who were then propelled into the corridors of power Mian Muhammad Sharif was the brain behind the Sharif Group ‘ First it was Pakistan Muslim League (Junejo) from which emerged PML(N) after Junejo Sahib revolted against the third usurper

Unlike ZAB’s Pakistan People’s Party which had

their insatiable lust for power led to confronta tion with the Armed Forces In 1998, Nawaz Sharif as Prime Minister pushed out Gen Jehangir Karamat as COAS and replaced him with Pervaiz Musharraf On his second shot at removing the COAS within a span of a few months he was deposed and captured Due to Abba Ji’s astute approach he managed to reach an agreement to stay in exile for ten years After the Lawyer ’s Movement in 2007, NS managed to stage a comeback through a contro versial NRO (National Rec onciliation Ordinance) the infamous Dawn Leaks again disturbed the balance of power between the corrup tion laden political party and the establishment paving the way for Imran Khan’s Pak istan tehreek e Insaf (PtI) to come into power

PML(Q) was promised election victory in 2008 but the assassination of Benazir Bhutto brought her party into power Asif Zardari managed to become the President after ousting Pervaiz Musharraf with the help of Gen Parvez Kiani the then COAS In the 2013 elections PtI emerged as a major political force but was denied victory due to the connivance of the establishment with the PML(N) Imran Khan called foul and decided to fight back

Again, in the 2018 electoral contest PtI was de nied outright majority In order to gain power IK had to rely on a coalition partner and remained at the mercy of the establishment the vote of no confi dence was the last attempt by the deep state to tarnish the credible image of IK, but it backfired

sulted in his mass public support today all dirty players stand fully exposed An operation

Clean up is now unstoppable

After the recent defeat of PML(N) in the provin cial assembly elections despite the support of the es tablishment the writing is on the wall this time even the establishment cannot manipulate the electoral process to ensure the victory of the corrupt that suits them the battle lines are clearly drawn the corrupt and the establishment on one side versus the honest on the other led by IK Re turn of NS will be the last ditch effort by the establishment to counter the popularity of Kaptain but the tide is against them the corrupt will be in jails soon while the Khakis will return to the barracks for the first time after cross ing the line in July 1977 fol lowed by the judicial murder of ZAB the most popular political leader of his time the Islamic Republic of Pakistan will finally emerge as a constitutional democ racy which IK has termed as Haqiqi Azadi (Real Free dom) which was usurped by those who were meant to serve in the barracks not rule in the corridors of power the dream of the founding fathers for a free land seems to be close to fruition As the first born free generation, we too have lived and struggled for this freedom by deposing not one but four usurpers and effectively dealing with the fifth hidden hand An other free and fair election can bring back the long derailed democratic order paving the way for a pros perous and vibrant republic as envisioned by Iqbal and Jinnah the legendary Parwaz of the Shaheen’ (flight of the eagle) now seems inevitable

The writer is ex Chairman Pakistan Science Foundation He can be contacted at: fmaliks@hotmail com

R e m e m b e r i n g S y e d A l i S h a h G e e l a n i

He even criticized the Pakistani establishment at one point, rejecting Musharraf ’s four point plan, which proposed that the borders remain unchanged and that Jammu and Kashmir be granted “self gov ernance” without independence

Geelani had walked out of the Hurriyat after some separatist leaders sent proxy candidates to fight assembly elections Unlike many of his Hurriyat col leagues, he also refused to join peace talks with Delhi Over the years it would prove to be an astute political move the peace talks went nowhere In the Valley, they were seen as a ploy by the Centre to maintain the status quo in Kashmir

provincial elections against pro India parties includ ing the National Conference Only four candidates of the platform, including Gilani, however, managed to secure seats because of rigging Gilani, along with three other winners, was jailed by India

In 1992, the All Parties Hurriyat (Freedom) Con ference (APHC) was set up It was meant to serve as a platform of 30 pro freedom parties In August 2004, Gilani along with Muhammad Ashraf Sehrai launched tehreek e Hurriyat (Movement of Freedom)

Sy E D Ali Geelani was born in Zurimanj village (Bandipora tehsil), in the Baramulla district of North Kashmir on 29 September 1929 He died on 1st September 2021while under house arrest (2010 to September 1, 2022) for over a decade His house remained heavily barricaded until his death

He was denied access to the internet and other communication facilities Freedom lovers including the Kashmiri Diaspora in different countries have de cided to commemorate his birth and death anniver saries in a befitting manner

Geelani s passport was seized in 1981 though he suffered from renal cancer he was not allowed to travel abroad for treatment Not to speak of a foreign visit, he was not allowed to attend even an Urdu book fair at the Kashmir University

When he died, Indian forces whisked away his dead body and buried it at a deserted place that s why Kashmiris regard his death as a custodial killing In his will and testament, Geelani had wished that his dead body should be buried in Srinagar Martyrs Graveyard Even if someone is hanged his last wish is respected But in the case of Ali Geelani, the Indian forces did not have the decency to honour Geelani s wish Geelani’s family alleged that his body was taken away by the police and buried forcibly Shortly after the burial, the administration booked Geelani s relatives under the Public Safety Act

Syed Ali Shah Geelani was born in 1929 in Zoori Munz, a village on the banks of Wular Lake in North Kashmir s Bandipora district He named his autobi ography Wular Kinarey [On the Banks of the Wular]

He felt Kashmir ’s future lay with Pakistan but he claimed the plebiscite could be a genuinely democratic process whose results may not have gone his way In several interviews he said he would accept the results of the plebiscite even if Kashmiris chose India

Geelani was a versatile thinker He was an austere religious ideologue who held funeral prayers in absentia for Osama bin Laden He had written 40 books spoke Urdu, Arabic and Persian, and quoted the poet Iqbal in conversation All his life he articulated his demands through peaceful channels

Geelani stepped down from the leadership of the tehreek e Hurriyat in 2020 owing to differences with his colleagues

He foresaw that India wanted to change the de mography of the disputed state He also realised that India s draconian laws meant for nabbing the timber mafia, were being applied to freedom lovers to stifle their voice He vehemently opposed these laws, par ticularly the Public Safety Act

He was a symbol of indomitable resistance Dur ing his incarceration in Indian jails, he was subjected to physical and mental torture His grandson had been serving as a research officer at the government con trolled Sher i Kashmir International Convention Cen tre in Srinagar He was dismissed from the government job citing “security concerns”

Gilani played an active role in the formation of the Muslim United Front (MUF) in 1987 ahead of

Geelani opposed Musharraf ’s Kashmir formula even when the US Institute of Peace had supported it this formula smacks of plagiarism of former In dian foreign secretary Jagat S Mehta’s formula Mehta presented his ideas in an article, ‘Resolving Kashmir in the International Context of the 1990s (Hindustan Times editor B G Verghese also gave sim ilar proposals)

Mehta understood that plebiscite the real solution was anathema to India As such, he proposed require ments’ for the solution not a solution Some points of his quasi solution are

(a) Conversion of the LoC into “a soft border per mitting free movement and facilitating free ex changes ” (b) Immediate demilitarisation of the LoC to a depth of five to 10 miles with agreed methods of ver ifying compliance (c) Pend ing final settlement there must be no continuing insis tence by Pakistan “on inter nationalization and for the implementation of a parallel or statewide plebiscite to be imposed under the peacekeeping auspices of the United Nations (d) Final settlement of the dispute between India and Pakistan can be suspended (kept in a ‘cold freeze’) for an agreed period (e) Conduct ing parallel democratic elections in both Pakistani and Indian sectors of Kashmir (f) Restoration of an autonomous Kashmiriyat

(g) Pacification of the valley until a political so lution is reached

It is eerie that India shrugged off Mehta’s quasi solution Voracious readers may refer for detail to Robert G Wirsing, India Pakistan and the Kashmir Dispute (1994, St Martin’s Press)

Geelani stressed that Pakistan should not show any resilience to India unless India admits in unequiv ocal terms that Kashmir is a disputed territory

Late completion

t H E construction projects in Quetta, especially those related to roads and nullahs take a long time to complete which disturbs the daily routine of people and creates nuisance for them

People experience overwhelming amount of dust, drive on haphazard and unpaved paths and get stuck in traffic jams every day Vendors complain that these troubles leave a negative impact on their businesses and decrease the number of customers the residents have recorded their protests time and again over such delays and the utter disregard of relevant officials towards people’s problems, but the authorities concerned neither address the issues nor provide any genuine reason for the delay

Strict action against the culprits seems to be the missing link Sadly, the government has turned a blind eye to people’s grievances the authorities concerned must ensure that these projects are completed within the designated time, and take action against those responsible for causing delays

Anti-Encroachment

A c a l a m i t y t h a t e x p o s e d u s a l l

a

MO N S O O N rains in Pakistan started in Mid June this year the contin uous rains for some two months caused floods almost all over the country and Balochistan was hit the hardest these floods have become the talk of the town due to the massive scale of devasta tion they have caused As per the most recent up dates, over 1500 people have died; 12,703 are injured, 5,735 km of roads have been destroyed, 246 bridges have been washed away or de stroyed, 1,688,005 houses are destroyed, and 750,481 livestock deaths have occurred so far Overall, some 33 million people have been af fected in one way or the other According to Reuters, Pakistan has faced a collective loss of some $30 billion Remember, these are recorded estimates, the unregistered casualties or losses might be even higher

Amid this devastation, a few questions are worth thinking about Were the earthquakes of 2005 and floods of 2010 not enough to alarm the nation for future such happenings, let alone preparing for them? Did authorities take climate change seriously? Are rich nations ready to pay for the damages caused mainly because they are developing at the cost of our devastation? these are the few key critical questions this piece is based on It tries to answer them and then define a way forward

Allah the Almighty clearly states in the Holy Qur an that He does not like corruption (Surah Baqarah: 205); He orders to not cause corruption on earth (Al A raf: 56); He curses corrupt (Al Ra d: 25) and does not like corrupters (Al Qasass: 77); scares corrupters of consequences and asks them to return to the righteousness (Ar Rum: 41)

Unfortunately, corruption can be found in al most every segment of society in Pakistan For instance, you can google, ‘what dams are made for? and it will state straight and plain, the purpose of a dam is to impound (store) water wastewater, or liquid borne materials for any of several reasons, such as flood control, human water supply irrigation livestock water supply energy generation, containment of mine tailings, recreation, or pollution control ”

In contrast 12 dams have been breached in Balochistan alone due to the floods, and the very purpose they were made for caused their breach ing the provincial government denies the alle gations of sub standard work and corruption behind breaches in dams Sixteen bridges were also washed away which cut Balochistan from the rest of the country

What is more unfortunate is that prices of bread in the provincial capital Quetta under the nose of the provincial government, rose from Rs 25 to Rs 40, somewhere Rs 50 per piece, when gas pipes were washed away and people turned

to tandoors for bread Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) prices also rose some 200 400 percent LPG per kilogramme rose from Rs 150 to Rs 400, or even Rs 500 550 at some places When there were chances of shortage, merchants started hoarding flour this tells a lot about corruption in our soci ety with inefficiency and mismanagement its by products Otherwise the disasters of 2005 and 2010 would have prepared us well enough to save our people whenever such happening hit them Hassan Aftab a geoscientist rightly ar gues in “The New Humanitarian” that post dis aster response like providing relief and funds for rebuilding houses or buying livestock is not enough “the government needs to understand that a focus on risk reduction and resilient infra structure development is crucial, since these dis asters will get so repetitive that we won’t have the ability to respond as effectively ” People who benefit from such disasters should be brought to justice to set an example

Also, the authorities did not take climate change as seriously as they should have Accord ing to the Economic Survey 2019 20 of the country, it was ex pected that climate change would have great impacts on the country, including re duced agricultural pro ductivity, increased variability of water availability increased coastal erosion, seawa ter incursion, and an in crease in the frequency of extreme climate change events

Pakistan witnessed 152 extreme weather events between 1999 2018 alone An ADB analysis showed that the socioeconomic costs of environmental degradation are consid erable with climate adaptation needs rang ing between $7 $14 bil lion per year ”

Agreement does say that the developed world should finance the developing world In that [case] Pakistan should receive more funding since we are vulnerable in a way that the Global North is not those responsible for climate change should take financial responsibility this time,” she adds

Furthermore, the WHO has warned of health threats in the country as some 1 460 health fa cilities have been damaged by the floods It has warned of water borne illnesses like cholera and diarrhoea UNICEF states that these illnesses can cause many deaths of children the spread of malaria, covid 19, and dengue are also ex pected to rise further in the crowded camps which is even further worrying these floods have caused immense destruc tion because the nation collectively was not se rious to be ready for such natural disasters,; and the international community, particularly the na tions that have great carbon emissions like the USA, China, India, Germany, and Russia did not reduce their carbon emissions, with Pakistan paying the price

In this regard, the UN secretary general An tonio Guterres said dur ing his recent visit to Pakistan that the “Wealthier countries are morally responsible for helping developing countries like Pakistan to recover from disasters like these and to adapt to build resilience to cli mate impacts that, un fortunately will be repeated in the future ”

The authorities should make transparency possible in allocation of funds and facilities to the affected people Law enforcing ag encies like police should strictly monitor prices of the basic commodities in the markets so that in these hard times people should not be compelled to face price gouging.

If such things were predicted, then how could the authorities not think of post disaster management? As mentioned above affectees are complaining about transparency and lack of as sistance from the authorities though the federal government has launched a Digital Flood Dash board’ to ensure transparency in the allocation of funds, the grievances of the affected are more visible than their satisfaction

According to Hassan Aftab, provincial as well as federal governments are using climate change as a scapegoat for their incompetence It makes some sense as Pakistan has been prone to such calamities since the early 2000s, but pre and post disaster preparations are almost invisi ble or not projected right, particularly in Balochistan and Sindh

thirdly according to the World Bank Pak istan emits less than one percent of global greenhouse gas, yet it is the eighth most vulner able country to climate change In other words

Pakistan is paying the price of developed na tions progress In return, it merely received Rs 10 billion allocation in this year s budget to tackle climate change

Sara Hayat, a climate change lawyer and policy specialist, rightly argues in The New Hu manitarian” that states like Pakistan should 100 percent demand climate reparations “the Paris

Moreover econo mists have suggested ‘debt swap’ in this difficult hour In debt swap, countries spend money on sustainable infrastruc ture instead of paying the creditors the UN General Secretary has also advocated debt swap which means that Pakistan should use the money on rehabilitation and rebuilding infrastructure in stead of paying its debts

the authorities should make transparency possible in allocation of funds and facilities to the affected people Law enforcing agencies like police should strictly monitor prices of the basic commodities in the markets so that in these hard times people should not be compelled to face price gouging Health facilities should be pro vided to the people living in the camps Every possible effort should be made by the citizens as well as the authorities to bring lives back to nor mal for the affected Pakistan should suspend debt repayments Rich nations should help Pak istan in these hard times and re visit their carbon emission programmes, because, Secretary Gen eral Guterres rightly states, “Let’s stop sleep walking towards the destruction of our planet by climate change today, it is Pakistan tomorrow, it could be your country ”

The writer is a Research Fellow at Balochistan Think Tank Network, Quetta

ABDUL RAHIM QUETTA

A major anti encroachment drive was conducted around the Empress Market in Downtown Karachi’s Sadder area a few years ago in which numerous unauthorised shops and structures were demolished by the local administration

Besides all pushcart vendors occupying the road illegally had also been removed in order to restore the aesthetics of the area and to facilitate a smooth flow of traffic Recently, while driving on a road adjacent to the Empress Market I was disappointed to see that both sides of this road have again been encroached upon by pushcart vendors, making it extremely difficult for rush time traffic to pass through the area the commercial activity and the presence of customers in the middle of the road are making the traffic bottleneck even worse the police and the local administration were nowhere to be seen to stop this blatant violation of the law by the encroachers It is obvious that without their connivance, the illegal occupation of a major portion of a road by these encroachers could not have been possible the provincial law enforcement agencies need to take a stern action to clear this area of the encroachment mafia, and to ensure smooth, uninterrupted flow of traffic in this busy city area

AAMIR MALIK KARACHI

Oil exploration

PA K I S tA N has proven oil reserves of 354 million barrels, ranking 52nd in the world on this count

Every year, it produces on an average 83,000 barrels per day of oil, which represents 8 5 per cent of its total proven oil reserves, and 19pc of total yearly consump tion of oil in the country In other words, indigenous oil reserves will be exhausted totally within 10 12 years given the present rate of production in case new discoveries of crude oil reserves are not made

According to various studies in the past, Pakistan has extensive oil and gas reserves, and, therefore, significant potential to increase production of crude oil exists to meet its energy needs in the future

It is estimated that Pakistan has 27 billion barrels of oil reserves offshore and onshore, largely located in Balochistan, Sindh and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) A study of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) concluded that 14 billion barrels of crude oil was technically recoverable in the Indus basin alone

Currently, oil is produced in upper Punjab and lower Sindh, but, intriguingly oil production has constantly been declining During the year 2021 22, oil production was 73,000 barrels per day, compared to 98,000 barrels per day in 2017

Regrettably exploration and production activities have constantly declined in recent years and average wells drilled in potential areas for oil and gas deposits have been significantly low Exploration for new discoveries for oil and gas are not being carried out in the prospective areas in Sindh and Balochistan, bordering India and Iran, respectively, whereas these neighbouring countries produce tens of thousands of barrels daily in these bordering areas

Seemingly, either it is to serve the vested interests of the oil importing mafia, or there are some political reasons for not exploring potential areas for new discoveries of oil in Pakistani areas bordering the neighbours Regardless of the reason, the hydrocarbons continue to flow to the neighbouring countries Balochistan has recoverable potential for six billion barrels of oil and KP has around one third that much All this bounty needs to be effectively and timely utilised

Pakistan had a record trade deficit of $48 259 billion for the year that ended on June 30 Imports surged to $80 019 billion whereas exports remained almost static at $31 760 billion the alarming trade deficit is propelled, primarily, by record increase in oil prices in the international market and generally because of imports growing significantly higher than exports Import of petroleum products, mineral fuels, including oil, valuing about $21 billion, which constitute 26pc of the total import bill, is the main contributor to the massive trade deficit Pakistan imports crude oil as well as refined oil since the domestic oil refining industry has limitations in terms of capacity and capability

Last year the consumption of petroleum products was 437 000 barrels per day, which was met by domestic oil refineries to the level of 174,000 barrels per day, and the balance 263,000 barrels per day was imported refined oil Ironically on the list of oil consuming countries Pakistan is ranked 33rd the trend of import of oil, crude as well as refined, is likely to continue Oil demand in Pakistan is increasing by at least 8pc a year For the last few weeks global oil prices have been declining having gone below $100 per barrel, but there is upward trend again According to a JP Morgan forecast, global oil prices could reach as high as $380 per barrel if Russia cuts its crude oil output in the wake of the Western sanctions due to the ongoing war with Ukraine these challenging times provide an excellent opportunity for the government to accelerate oil exploration and production in the country, which will result in the reduction in oil imports Inviting new investments in the oil and gas sector is the need of the hour

Iran ‘ready to provIde answers’ on nuclear probes

A n d r e w PA r A s i l i t i A n d e l i z A b e t h h Ag e d o r n

Al Monitor: The IAEA safeguards investigation seems to be a key sticking point to unsticking the JCPOA Is not the answer an agreement to engage the IAEA on a separate track? This happened in 2015 when an inquiry into past military dimensions (PMD) of Iran’s nuclear program resulted in a separate IAEA resolution and path to allow the implementation of the JCPOA to proceed

Amir Abdollahian: We have no problem with cooperating or interacting with the agency And you know that our cooperation is still going on, especially when it comes to the safeguards The agency’s cameras are there, and they are monitoring us You know what we have done? We have taken those cameras that were installed voluntarily off We have turned them off actually And those are the ones that we installed voluntarily And it has nothing to do with other safeguards surveillance that is being conducted on us And that was retaliation for the resolution that was issued against us about four months ago at the agency I think it was something wrong that was done by the Americans and the three European countries We were in the midst of negotiating and all of a sudden they tabled a resolution against Iran We will definitely continue our cooperation with the agency The agency has questions about three alleged sites that they say have found uranium and we are ready to provide answers to those questions

But we strongly believe at the same time that the agency needs to behave and act technically The problem we have with the agency is the fact that they act politically

In the year 2015 something happened There was a political will, and there was a political decision that was made at the time It was between Iran and the three European countries and the United States and it helped the JCPOA to be finalized On the one hand, we were going to, and we are willing and eager, to cooperate with the agency to provide answers to those allegations and the claims And on the other hand, we want a similar political will, that I’ve told you was there in the year 2015 to be there also this time

You might know that all our activities, nuclear activities, constitute about 2% of global nuclear activities which are all within the peaceful framework But what about the surveillance that is conducted on us? Thirty seven percent of all IAEA surveillance and monitoring This means that after all parties return to the JCPOA, it means that once again, we have to grant all access to the agency And by that I mean, access that goes beyond safeguards

This is quite natural that these current, baseless allegations against Iran that have been put on the agenda of the agency need to be removed first But believe and accept that in order to do so, there has to be some technical work But parallel to that, just like in the year 2015, there needs to be a political will to close the case of these allegations

Al Monitor: So just to be clear, you are saying you are ready now to engage technically with the IAEA to resolve this issue?

Amir Abdollahian: Sure

Al Monitor: I want to ask about guarantees, but I’m going to ask it a different way Your country has expressed concerns about guarantees that the election of a Republican president in 2024, or even the sunset of the JCPOA in 2025, could lead to the US reimposing sanctions, even if Iran complies with the deal, as you have said with your concerns of what happened in 2018 So time is very short

Perhaps another way of looking at guarantees is if Iran engages with the United States and regional partners on a number of issues Yemen, Lebanon, Iraq, Syria where there seems to be common interests and assuring stability and progress Wouldn’t this change be noted in the region by US partners, and serve as a sign of goodwill, and also as a kind of guarantee?

Amir Abdollahian: When we talk about guarantees we are actually referring to the experience that we gained in the past You know, Trump’s decision to withdraw from the deal was something in violation of international rules and regulations What we’re

facing is that the Americans are telling us they cannot guarantee for the next administration in office in the United States

But you know, again, this is contrary to the international norms and conventions When something is signed amongst the various parties, it means that it is not just between governments or administrations It is done it is conducted amongst the ruling systems in those countries My colleagues have been involved in negotiations for months in Vienna I am also in touch and in constant contact with a lot of people on how to get back to the JCPOA And whenever we talk about guarantees, the Americans are telling us that at most, or the maximum guarantee that we can give you is going to be by the end of Biden’s administration

So what kind of message does it send to those companies people who are going to make investments in Iran once the JCPOA is back in action? It gives this message to them and this impression to them that you don t have much time to make investments in Iran

During the Munich security conference that I attended some time ago, I had a meeting with some of the managers and CEOs of major European companies Also in Munich, my deputy for economic affairs was there And he had this very big event, and it was participated by a lot of major Western companies mostly in Europe We were told by all of them that if the terms and conditions are going to be short lived, then we will be unable to make good investments in Iran

But let me tell you that in the past weeks, and as the result of the messages exchanged between us and the Americans there has been some progress on this on the guarantees and the duration of the agreements, but we are still far from the ideal point

Al Monitor: What about the regional policies? I mean, wouldn’t that also signal if Iran is engaging as a sign of goodwill?

Amir Abdollahian: You know, first of all, we have always been on the positive side of the developments in the region Just pay attention to what happens in the case of the fight against terrorism What we were doing on our side, and what was the US doing on its side?

You know, in those electoral campaigns, presidential campaigns, one of the candidates told the other that it was us who created ISIS But it was us who fought ISIS (Daesh) both in Iraq and Syria If they could manage to take over those two countries, now the region would look different And if they came to power in our region, then none of the subway stations in Europe or even in the United States would be safe Therefore, we have always been supportive of the security and stability of the region, and [of] those countries that you named

And we have always encouraged the countries of the region to cooperate with each other through dialogue And also we have been supportive of the process of government building in Iraq It was us who encouraged all the parties and groups in Yemen to agree to the ceasefire And in Afghanistan the US policy was wrong Today as we speak, there are five million Afghan refugees living in Iran, and this is the result of the erroneous policies of the United States Incomprehensible, some of the policies of the United States in my region One day they said that they wanted to topple the Taliban regime and under this pretext they occupied Afghanistan And after 20 years, they hold talks with them in Doha and they leave Afghanistan behind back into the hands of the Taliban and now they are there as just one ruling party as Pashtuns You know, what the Taliban people are telling us is that we expelled the Americans from Afghanistan But I told them that it was you who sat down with the Americans in Doha and reached an agreement with them

But now, what we mean by the guarantees has nothing to do with the regional issues We had negotiations in the year 2015 we had the JCPOA And we had one specific objective We wanted the sanctions to be gone, to be lifted So that the people of Iran would benefit from the economic gains of the deal So when we say guarantee, it means that we want guarantees that when we get back to the JCPOA, our economic gains would be felt by the people would be concrete

And of course, a lot of messages have been exchanged between us and the Americans and are still being exchanged I think the American side now understands very well our positions and our rationale But I have the feeling that for different reasons, the United States has not come to the point where it is ready to be brave enough to make that decision

Al Monitor: On this point, why not deal directly with the United States to settle these final points? Is not the issue of indirect talks getting a little exhausting? Why is Iran afraid of face to face talks with the Americans?

Amir Abdollahian: We are not afraid of having face to face talks with the United States But we should feel that it is going to be a game changer That there is going to be some kind of gain for us, some kind of benefit for us in those talks Even here on the sidelines of the United

Nations General Assembly, we received a message from the Americans: Let s talk directly You know all the sensitivities and all the things that we have seen from the United States in the last 40 years considering all those, you have to give us [the] right to expect something big coming from such talks that we are not seeing

But because of something which happened in Iran recently A girl died and we are all saddened by it My president talked to the father of the girl All the branches of power in Iran are at work to see what happened to the girl to unveil the truth: the judiciary the government, the parliament But the pure sentiments of the people of Iran are being used And let’s not forget that the United States imposed fresh sanctions against Iran in the past month But now they say that they’re going to lift sanctions on the things that have to do with communications and internet Why? Because they want to interfere in our internal affairs

Al Monitor: Let me stay on the incident you’re talking about As we came in, more than 50 people have been killed by security forces [and] police forces taking part in anti government protests, responding to Mahsa Amini’s death in custody. There are now reports that your government is restricting access to the internet Less important I think than how the US reacts to what’s happening in Iran is how Iranians are reacting Isn’t it perhaps a choice for your government to realize that people are saying enough is enough, and to loosen hijab restrictions and morality enforcement, and maybe even shut down the morality police?

Amir Abdollahian: My suggestion to you is to visit Iran to see what’s going on in the streets of Tehran: freedom of expression, people’s freedom for doing what they want to do, and also the hijab The hijab is you know they are observing it the way they like it But of course there is this overall framework I m sure you re going to get the answers to your questions automatically Any kind of explanation I’m trying to give you here is not going to be enough for you because you re so much under the influence and affected by some fabrications in social media You’re not going to buy it fully But I’m telling you there is full democracy in Iran You have to see it for yourself

What happened in the United States when they tried to seize the Congress? You tried to get control of the social media Your president s access to Twitter What happened to it? Why did you do that? For the security of the country It is the natural right of all the people in the world to have peaceful protests But killing and setting places on fire violence this is something that no government would support So whatever question you ask me, I’m going to ask it like this: Why did they in the United States [do] it like this and it was worse than what we did?

Let me correct you Those people were not all killed by the security forces A lot of them were killed by the rioters Organized Like MKO [Mujahedin e Khalq Organization] terrorist group Members of whom are freely living in the United States and Europe

Al Monitor: You will agree though, I think for those of us outside who are watching these pictures, that the beating of women is troubling?

Amir Abdollahian: Some of these pictures are fabricated You have to know that they are reacting to the rioters Are you going to be sitting here in a very relaxed mood if somebody comes in and tries to set it on fire? You have to confront it But now I can tell you that the situation is completely under control What happened on the first day of the protests, that was the people s emotions and sentiments No car vehicle was torched There was no plundering No bank was damaged But now the all those satellite channels and those ones those networks and Internet channels they are encouraging people to come to the streets, to do riots and to change the regime So they’re all

Al Monitor: Let me come back to the Iran deal In the absence of direct talks, are you going to support another indirect route?

Amir Abdollahian: We have already conveyed our final proposals to the other side And in those proposals, we have not tried to modify or change in any way the contents of the negotiations, and we have not disturbed the equilibrium in the text We just tried to make it look stronger only on the three remaining issues The differences that we have with the Americans version are these

First of all, the basis for both versions are the texts proposed by Mr Josep Borrell So it was handed to both sides by Mr Borrell The American side for about 10 days examined the text, and tried to make the text rather ambiguous You know, it was prone to a lot of interpretations You could interpret it in different ways On the other side, we have been trying to make it transparent and to make it change in a way that no other interpretations can be drawn from it So on those three or four outstanding issues, we have given a version of the text that is crystal clear, very transparent

You know the American and European negotiators use two phrases during the talks When there is a thorny issue or a problem that can be solved in a very simple way, and we say okay, let s go solve it because we can do it They say no, it’s like a package Everything should be looked at as a package

Al Monitor: On the possibility of a prisoner exchange involving dual citizens Emad Shargi, Morad Tahbaz and Baquer and Siamak Namazi, where do those talks stand? And do you see an agreement without a JCPOA? Is that possible?

Amir Abdollahian: We see no linkage, no connection between this humanitarian issue that is a prisoners issue and JCPOA So we are absolutely ready for this prisoner exchange because we believe it s a humanitarian thing We have said this also to the Americans

Al Monitor: What are you waiting for then? What’s the hold up?

Amir Abdollahian: You have to blame your side, you know They are very slow in responding to that I don’t know what kind of problems they are having

Al Monitor: Why not, if it’s a humanitarian issue, let Baquer Namazi out of the country to seek [medical] treatment?

Amir Abdollahian: He is receiving all the facilities with VIP services I think he can easily be exchanged Of course, this is in the hands of our judiciary people But I m optimistic

Al Monitor: There have been five rounds of meetings between Iranian and Saudi representatives in Iraq When can we expect the next round of talks?

Amir Abdollahian: As you rightly mentioned, there have been five rounds of talks between us and the Saudis in Baghdad Some agreements have been achieved Some have been implemented Some remain unimplemented

Al Monitor: Is Iran selling drones to Russia for use in Ukraine?

Amir Abdollahian: We have an agreement to have defense cooperation with Russia But we are not supporting either side in the Ukrainian war that will result in the continuation of the war We believe it is wrong for any party to send arms to either Ukraine or Russia

Al Monitor

responsive by the United States, some of them by European countries and some of them by a certain country in our region Because of their interference, the various dimensions of this incident have become larger and become wider spread in the public opinion

IN AN EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW WITH AL MONITOR, IRANIAN FOREIGN MINISTER HOSSEIN AMIR ABDOLLAHIAN DISCUSSES THE NUCLEAR TALKS, THE PROSPECTS FOR A PRISONER EXCHANGE AND THE PROTESTS FOLLOWING THE DEATH OF MAHSA

T H E AG E N C Y H A S Q U E S T I O N S A B O U T T H R E E A L L E G E D S I T E S

T H AT T H E Y S AY H AV E F O U N D U R A N I U M , A N D W E A R E R E A DY TO P R O V I D E A N S W E R S TO T H O S E Q U E S T I O N S

P e o P L e ' S B u S S e r v i C e r o u t e e x t e N D e D t o t o w e r v i a S h a h r a h - e - Fa i S a L : M e M o N

GOOD news for the passen gers of Gulshan e Hadeed route of People's Bus Serv ice Gulshan e Hadeed route has been extended up to Tower via Shahrah e Faisal This decision has taken in a meeting chaired by Provincial Transport Minister Shar jeel Inam Memon on Wednesday

The provincial announced that people s bus service will now ply on

Metro donates essential food items wor

to Pakistan red Cresent Societ y for flood affectees

METRO

Managing Director Sui Southern Gas Company, Mr Imran Maniar today inaugurated a new gas pipeline that has been laid to augment the gas supplies and will largely address the low gas pressures issues being faced by the residents of Lyari, Garden and old city areas The newly inaugurated 12 inch diameter gas pipeline spans over 5 kilometers that starts from Mazaar e Quaid and concludes at Dhobi Ghaat, costed around Rs 150 million At this occasion, the members of Distribution Department led by Dy General Manager (Distribution Karachi Central) Abdul Rasheed Laghari were also present in large numbers who gave a comprehensive briefing to the Managing Director about this project

wins best corporate, sustainabilit

award for Year-2021

the 18th time

First position in Best Sustainability Report Award for the 6th time Award was received by Mr Azhar Khan, representing the Company at the Award Ceremony held at Marriot Hotel, Karachi

Pfizer Foundation donates PKr33m to suppor t flood victims

Karachi: PAKISTAN, September 2022: Pfizer Foundation, charity arm of the world’s leading biopharmaceutical company Pfizer Inc, today announced that it is donating PKR 33 million towards flood relief efforts in Pakistan The funds will be disbursed to the UN World Food Programme (WFP) supporting the relief efforts by the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) across Pakistan

Gulshan e Hadeed to Tower from Monday The slight change in the route has been made on the demand of the people of Gulshan e Hadeed and adjourning areas He said that the number of buses will also be increased on the Khokhrapar Tower route from tomorrow, 30 buses will run on the route from tomorrow (Thursday) He said that the demand of people s bus service is increasing we have to improve the service further H e di rected that complaint of overloading is increasing it should be discouraged

On this, the provincial minister in structed the Sindh Mass Transit Au thority to form a monitoring team He said that the monitoring team will com pile a report on timely departure and arrival of buses, overloading and other matters on a daily basis

of the People's Bus Serv

in Larkana The provincial minis

the Larkana

trict administration

International delegation meets key government stakeholders

A high level delegation from e& International compris ing of top management held meetings with Federal Sec retary IT, Federal Secretary Privatization, and other key government stakeholders in Islamabad on Wednesday

The delegation led by CEO International, e&, Mikhail Gerchuk met with the Federal Secretary IT, Mohsin Mushtaq, Federal Secretary for Privatization, Dr Iram A Khan and Chairman PTA, Major General (R) Amir Azeem Bajwa HI (M) The delegation from e& was accompanied by President and Group CEO PTCL & Ufone, Hatem Bamatraf

During the meeting, Mohsin Mushtaq welcomed the delegation from e& International to Pakistan Mat ters of mutual interest were discussed with a focus es pecially on Telecom Sector and its significance on the national economic growth The agenda of discussion also included e& International and PTCL Group’s in credible support in developing a strong infrastructure in Pakistan that would surely transform the country into a digitalized economy

The management and government officials ex changed their views on the ongoing crisis in the coun try by the recent floods and ways to extend joint

daily basis

JS Bank holds medical camps, distributes food in flood-hit areas

karachI s ta f f r e p o r t

support for the people during these tough times The discussion also included the issue of telecom compa nies in Pakistan requiring import of communication equipment for their network up gradation and expan sion as well as to maintain the quality of service re quirements mandated for the sector In addition, both sides talked about the resolution of prevailing regula tory issues of the telecom sector in Pakistan CEO In ternational, e&, Mikhail Gerchuk commended the tremendous efforts of the Government of Pakistan in cluding Ministry of Information Technology and Telecommunication and Ministry of Privatization President and Group CEO, PTCL & Ufone, Hatem Ba matraf briefed the government officials and dignitaries regarding the Rs 1 75 billion flood relief package

Air C hief witnesses operational exercise of Pakistan Air Force

karachI s ta f f r e p o r t

Pakistan Air Force conducted an operational Air De fence exercise focusing at fostering synergy while con sidering future warfare challenges The aim of the exercise was to practice counter air operations in order to validate contemporary employment concepts

The exercise was focused on integration of PAF and Pak Army air defence assets while training PAF operational crew to develop, practice and validate tac tics against envisaged threats Air Chief Marshal Za heer Ahmed Baber Sidhu Chief of the Air Staff

Pakistan Air Force oversaw the operational PAF Air Defence exercise

While monitoring the conduct of exercise from Command Operations Center, the CAS assessed inte gration and synergistic employment of offensive and defensive forces in synergy with Army Air Defence in order to validate contemporary employment con cepts under near realistic threat scenarios PAF oper ational assets including Fighter aircraft Air Defense elements, Force Multipliers and Battle Management Centers were also integrated in the exercise Earlier, the CAS visited an operational base in the context of same exercise to assess the integration of newly ac

quired unmanned aerial system in the PAF's opera tional construct

Highlighting the importance of UAS, the Air Chief said that The role of Unmanned Aerial Systems is be coming increasingly important for military conflicts UAS have assumed the lead role as force multipliers that could play a decisive role in the final outcome of modern day battles The CAS emphasized that PAF was fully cognizant of the geo strategic developments in the region and is fully prepared to defend sover eignty and territorial integrity of Pakistan Our focus remains on Operational Excellence, Continued Mod ernization through Smart Inductions of Cutting Edge Niche Technologies, Effect Based Training and better Human Resource Development to befittingly address contemporary and future challenges "

J S B a n k , o n e o f P a k i s t a n s f a s t e s t g r o w i n g B a n k s , h a s s e t u p m o b i l e c l i n i c s a n d d a i l y f o o d r a t i o n d i s t r i b u t i o n d r i v e s c a t e r i n g t o t h o u s a n d s o f p e o p l e i n f l o o d i m p a c t e d a r e a s J S B a n k h a s j o i n e d h a n d s w i t h p a r t n e r s s u c h a s t h e S i n d h i A s s o c i a t i o n o f N o r t h A m e r i c a ( S A N A ) t o e a s e t h e d i f f i c u l t i e s b e i n g f a c e d b y p e o p l e i n t h e r a i n a f f e c t e d a r e a s t h r o u g h a t e a m o f q u a l i f i e d d o c t o r s , p a r a m e d i c s t a f f , a n d v o l u n t e e r s l e d b y J a m i l M e m o n H e a d o f A d m i n & C S R J S B a n k A c t i v i t i e s a r e t a k i n g p l a c e i n D i s t r i c t s J a m s h o r o ( S e h w a n ) , D a d u & L a r k a n a a l o n g w i t h s u r r o u n d i n g a r e a s T h e s e i n c l u d e v i l l a g e s , M i r z a p u r, B u b a k B a n d M a n c h a r, A r a z i , Wa r r a h , L a k k i S h a h S a d d a r, K a i B a g o S h e r N a w a b K h a n R i n d a n d H a j j i K h a n N o o h a n i a m o n g s t o t h e r s T h e e s t i m a t e d o u t r e a c h o f t h i s p r o g r a m w i l l b e 2 0 0 0 0 + p e o p l e a n d i s e x p e c t e d t o g r o w a s t h e e f f o r t s a r e e x p a n d e d t o f u r t h e r a r e a s B a s i r S h a m s i e P r e s i d e n t & C E O , J S B a n k p e r s o n a l l y v i s i t e d t h e c a m p s a l o n g w i t h s e n i o r t e a m m e m b e r s t o r e v i e w t h e e f f o r t s o f t h e J S F l o o d R e l i e f t e a m , w h i c h h a s b e e n w o r k i n g o n t h e g r o u n d S p e a k i n g a t t h e l o c a t i o n , h e s a i d , “ J S B a n k i s c o m m i t t e d t o g i v i n g b a c k t o t h e c o m m u n i t y i n w h i c h i t o p e r a t e s a n d i s a c t i v e l y m a k i n g e f f o r t s t o e a s e t h e d i f f i c u l t i e s o f t h e a f f e c t e e s , a s i t h a d d o n e i n t h e 2 0 1 0 f l o o d s We a r e s t a n d i n g b y t h e n a t i o n a n d w i l l c o n t i n u e t o d o i n t i m e s t o c o m e ” “ We a r e f o c u s i n g o u r e f f o r t s o n h a r d t o r e a c h v i l l a g e s i n t h e a r e a t o p r o v i d e r e l i e f t o t h o s e w h o a r e i n t h e w o r s t i m p a c t e d c o n d i t i o n s , ” s a i d J a m i l M e m o n A s p e r t h e U n i t e d N a t i o n s O f f i c e f o r t h e C o o r d i n a t i o n o f H u m a n i t a r i a n A f f a i r s ( O C H A ) , d u e t o t h e f l o o d s , s o m e 3 3 m i l l i o n p e o p l e h a v e b e e n a f f e c t e d i n 11 6 o f t h e c o u n t r y s 1 6 0 d i s t r i c t s N e a r l y 1 2 0 0 p e o p l e h a v e d i e d a n d o v e r 4 , 9 0 0 h a v e b e e n i n j u r e d O v e r 1 1 m i l l i o n h o u s e s h a v e n o w b e e n d a m a g e d o r d e s t r o y e d a n d m o r e t h a n 4 7 0 , 0 0 0 p e o p l e a r e l i v i n g i n c a m p s I n a d d i t i o n , a t l e a s t 3 6 m i l l i o n a c r e s o f c r o p s / o r c h a r d s h a v e b e e n a f f e c t e d a n d o v e r 7 3 3 0 0 0 l i v e s t o c k k i l l e d a c c o r d i n g t o i n i t i a l e s t i m a t e s C o m m i t t e d t o i t s r o l e a s a s o c i a l l y r e s p o n s i b l e b a n k J S B a n k c o n t i n u e s i t s f l o o d r e l i e f e f f o r t s b y p r o v i d i n g q u a l i t y h e a l t h c a r e t h r o u g h i t s m o b i l e c l i n i c s a s w e l l a s d i s t r i b u t i n g f o o d r a t i o n s a m o n g t h o s e w h o n e e d i t m o s t

S ave the C hildren pledges students ’ rehab in flood hit areas

Taking part in the government’s initiative of extending relief and rehabilitation support to over 33 million people including 16 million children displaced due to the recent devastating floods across Pakistan, the in ternational humanitarian organization Save the Chil dren has pledged rehabilitation of flood affected children across the country “As part of our national child rehabilitation program, we have established two temporary learning centers at Dara Shah gram a vil lage of flood hit Swat city, for children, where over 150 students are enrolled to provide them with quality education ” Hassan Noor Saadi Regional Director Asia, Save the Children, informed the media during his visit to these centres here on Tuesday He said that teachers provided by the government are giving ed ucation at these centres “We have also arranged a child friendly play space where these flood affected children can end their anxiety through gaming activ

ities,” he said Hassan Noor Saadi further added that “flood affected Swat is the focused district of Save the Children in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa By quickly re sponding to the national calls for relief efforts we have also provided NFI kits, dignity kits and other necessary relief items in addition to tents to ten schools of the district ” He revealed that Save the Children has also established a rural health centre in Bahrain, district Swat, where two doctors including a female and paramedical staff are providing health care to about 400 patients daily along with provision of free medicines We have also arranged a psychiatrist at the health centre who is counselling children get out of the trauma in shape of flood miseries,” he said

The latest figures show that 33 million people in cluding 16 million children have been severely af fected by the devastating floods in 116 districts across the four provinces The outbreak of watery diarrhoea, typhoid and malaria are rapidly increasing as a result of the stagnant water in inundated areas

So far, the floods have also damaged more than

2,056,805 houses, 3 6 Million acres of crops, 23,900 schools, 1460 health facilities, and 12,000 KM of roads remain under water Giving details of their relief oper ations the Regional Director Asia Save the Children said that they have planned to set up 100 temporary learning centres across the country besides rebuilding partially or fully damaged schools across the country especially Sindh, Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Save the Children has already initiated response in most affected provinces of Balochistan Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Sindh It is going to expand and address the immediate survival needs in the worst hit districts to minimize the adverse effects of flooding on health, food & security, and nutrition of children, women, and their families As of today, Save the Chil dren has reached more than 31 000 people including 15,000 children through the life saving activities under flood response 2022 Besides this, save the Children is closely working with the National and Provincial Disaster Management authorities, and local govern ments, for an effective and coordinated response

meeting

Islamabad

New supply line to resolve low-pressure issues in Lyari, Garden, old cit y areas: MD, SSGC

ChInA URges oBJeCTIve sTAnCe oveR AFghAnIsTAn’s TAlIBAn

BEIJING Ag e n c i e s

AChinese official on Wednesday urged the in ternational community to take an objective stance” over Afghanistan’s Taliban, saying so cial order in the country is gradually being re stored

In a regular press briefing, Wang Wenbin, spokesper son for the Chinese Foreign Ministry, also acknowledged that Afghanistan right now is at a crucial period transi

tioning from chaos to order with terrorist threats yet to be removed

Wang also called on the international community to remain engaged with the Afghan interim government and step up humanitarian and development assistance to the country while stressing the preservation of the basic rights of all Afghan people, specifically all ethnic group members, women and children in the country

Another Chinese official Geng Shuang on Tuesday echoed the same sentiment, urging enhancement, mutual understanding and trust, and helping the Afghan interim

government build inclusive and moderate governance

It is not constructive to keep accusing or pressuring the Afghan interim government or even to instrumental ize the issue of travel ban exemptions as a bargaining chip for negotiations Such a move will only make the door for dialogue narrower and deepen confrontation and divergences, Geng, China’s deputy permanent represen tative to the United Nations, told a Security Council meeting on Afghanistan

The past 20 years have once again proved that mili tary intervention and external models simply do not

work and that the future of Afghanistan can only be de cided by the Afghan people themselves The interna tional community should fully draw lessons from the past 20 years and not just pay lip service to the phrase “Afghan led and Afghan owned,” but should put it into practice, he added

The international community should make it a top priority to help Afghanistan alleviate its humanitarian crisis and stabilize the economy, and should not politi cize humanitarian and economic issues nor link human itarian aid and economic development with other political issues, said Geng, adding that Afghanistan s frozen overseas assets should be used expeditiously for the improvement of Afghans’ life and economic recon struction

Taliban seal deal to procure petrol, wheat from Russia

KABUL Ag e n c e s

Afghanistan has entered an agreement with Russia to procure millions of tonnes of petroleum products and wheat, Taliban officials said on Wednesday Russia has been hit hard by unprecedented Western sanctions over its invasion of Ukraine causing Moscow to push exports to Asian countries to support its economy “The contract was agreed upon last month when the minister of indus try and trade visited Russia Abdul Salam Jawad spokesman for the ministry, told AFP He would not comment on any financial details The deal includes supplying Kabul with one million tonnes of gasoline a million tonnes of diesel, 500,000 tonnes of liquefied pe troleum gas (LPG), and two million tonnes of wheat, Jawad said The ministry of economy in a separate statement, said the supplies from Russia are expected to arrive “in the next few weeks” Moscow confirmed that preliminary agreements had been negotiated with the Taliban “Now they (the two sides) have to sign concrete agreements on volumes and list of products,” Russia’s special envoy to Afghanistan, Zamir Kabulov, was quoted as saying by Russian state news agency TASS An economic crisis in Afghanistan has only worsened since the Taliban returned to power following the hasty withdrawal of US led foreign forces last August The country’s banking sector has nearly collapsed after Washington froze $7 billion of Afghanistan s assets held in the United States A two year drought has affected the country’s food production Taliban officials have main tained that they are looking to strike trade deals with the international community and have so far received oil and gas from neighbouring Iran The government has not yet been recognised by any country, but Russia has maintained bilateral ties with the Islamists since before they seized power last year

Muslim vegetable seller lynched in UP

NEW

A Muslim vegetable seller was beaten to death by a group of Hindutva goons accusing him of stealing a bat tery in Hapur district of the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, but the allegation of theft appears to be a ruse Local police have filed an FIR against the four culprits for killing Nadeem on a complaint by the family of the deceased, a resident of Garh town in Hapur As per the complaint, Nadeem, who used to make living from sell ing vegetable, was out on a round to sell his wares as a routine when the Hindutva goons assaulted him purport edly on the suspicion of stealing the battery of a truck Later the family was informed by the police about death of Nadeem whose dead body was lying in the hospital Senior Superintendent Police (SSP) Mukesh Mishra said that the police were informed by the Meerut Nursing Home that a man named Nadeem was brought to the hospital dead A police team reached the hospital took the body into custody and conducted an autopsy on it Taking cognizance of the offence, the police filed an FIR on the complaint of the family mem bers and are on a hunt to track down the murderers

BJP gov t bans Popular Front of India for 5 years under UAPA

NEW DELHI

The Narendra Modi led fascist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government has banned the Muslim organiza tion Popular Front of India (PFI) for five years over alleged terror activities after two rounds of country wide raids and arrest of over 240 leaders and func tionaries of in a week

According to Kashmir Media Service, the Modi regime has declared the Popular Front of India (PFI) and its associates or affiliates or fronts as “unlawful associations” under draconian law, Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) Rehab India Foundation (RIF) Campus Front of India (CFI) All India Imams Council (AIIC), National Confedera tion of Human Rights O

a

Cameron Green retained in australia squad for West indies t20is

aL L R o u N d e R Cameron Green has been r e w a r d e d f o r h i s p e r f o r m a n c e s i n I n d i a w i t h a s p o t i n t h e A u s t r a l i a

t r i p t o I n d i a , w h e r e G r e e n w a s a s t a n d o u t a s A u s t r a l i a l o s t t h e s e r i e s 2 1 G r e e n w h o s t o o d i n f o r t h e rested Warner as skipper Aaron Finch’s open ing partner in India and scored two half centuries was not included in the squad for Australia’s World Cup title de fence Marsh who had an ankle problem and Stoinis, who had a side issue, are both returning from injury and chief se l e c t o r G e o rg e B a i l e y s a i d A u s t r a l i a w e r e t a k i n g a “ c a u t i o u s a p p r o a c h ” t o

a n y n i g g l e s a s t h e t o u r n a m e n t a p proaches To have four key players re t u r n g i v e s u s t h e a b i l i t y t o t a k e a c o n s e r v a t i v e p a t h w i t h a n y m i n o r i s sues and resolve those well in time for the World Cup ” he said in a news re l e a s e Wo r l d C u p s q u a d m e m b e r s

K a n e R i c h a r d s o n a n d A s h t o n A g a r a r e b e i n g r e s t e d f o r t h e We s t I n d i e s m a t c h e s b u t B a i l e y e x p e c t e d t h e m t o b e b a c k f o r a t h r e e m a t c h w a r m u p s e r i e s a g a i n s t e n g l a n d t h e f o l l o w i n g w e e k A u s t r a l i a p l a y We s t I n d i e s o n

Messi at the double as Argentina streak continues with Jamaic a defeat

the Gold Coast next Wednesday and at the Gabba in Brisbane two days later

T h e i r Wo r l d C u p c a m p a i g n b e g i n s a g a i n s t N e w Z e a l a n d i n S y d n e y o n o c t o b e r 2 2

S q u a d : A a r o n F i n c h ( c a p t a i n ) S e a n A b b o t t , Pa t C u m m i n s , T i m D av i

Masterc ard expands dec ades long football legac y through GUINNESS WORLD RECORDS title with Luis Figo

PR

Mastercard has set a GuINNeSS WoRLd ReCoRdS™ title for the ‘Highest Altitude Game of Football (Soccer) on a Parabolic Flight alongside football legend Luis Figo and a diverse team of foot ball heroes from across the Middle east, europe, and Latin America The first of its kind football game was played at an altitude of 20,230 ft (6166 1 m) in zero gravity conditions, taking the game to a place where no match has gone before Through this cam paign, Mastercard is celebrating the world’s love for football by taking fans’ passion for the beautiful game to unprecedented heights

Under 16 school cricket tournament to be played in Oc tober

bAHAWALPUR

S

The under 16 school cricket tournament will be played at dring Stadium Bahawalpur in october to promote cricket at youth level The students from government and private schools will participate in the tournament This was decided in a meeting chaired by deputy Com missioner Zahid Parvez Waraich Additional deputy Commissioner Revenue Aitzaz Anjum, Chief executive officer education Zahoor Ahmed Chauhan, and officers from other relevant departments were present at the meeting The tournament will be organized by the Gov ernment of Punjab and the Pakistan Cricket Board deputy Commissioner directed that all the arrange ments for the tournament should be completed properly He said that the participation of players from public and private schools should be ensured and equal opportuni ties should be provided to them It was informed that 12 teams from government schools and three teams from private schools would participate in the tournament The tournament will be played on a league basis one day matches of forty overs per innings will be played and teams will be divided into four pools

Usman Wazeer knocks out Thai boxer to

WBO

knocked out T h a i l a n d ’s S o m p h o t S e e s a t o c l a i m t h e v a c a n t W B o Yo u t h 1 4 7 l b s w o r l d t i t l e i n t h e H i g h l a n d B o x i n g S h o w i n B a n g k o k T h e 2 2 y e a r o l d u s m a n , w h o p r e v i o u s l y w o n a l l o f h i s e i g h t p r o f e s s i o n a l b o u t s , w a s t o p o f t h e b i l l i n t h e s h o w a s h e s t a r t e d c o n f i d e n t l y i n t h e f i r s t r o u n d , a c c o r d i n g t o i n f o r m a t i o n r e c e i v e d h e r e H e k e p t o n e x e r t i n g p r e s s u r e t o u n s e t t l e h i s 2 3 y e a r o l d o p p o n e n t A f l u r r y o f r i g h t a n d l e f t s t r o n g b l o w s e v e n t u a l l y s a w h i m k n o c k i n g o u t S o m p h o t S e e s a i n t h e s i x t h r o u n d

Web DeSk

Tw e n t y 2 0 s q u a d f o r t w o Wo r l d C u p w a r m u p s a g a i n s t We s t I n d i e s i n Q u e e n s l a n d n e x t w e e k opener david Warner all rounders Mitchell Marsh and Marcus Stoinis as w e l l a s p a c e m a n M i t c h e l l S t a r c a l l r e t u r n t o t h e s q u a d a f t e r m i s s i n g t h e

I m r a n d a r e S ‘ I m P o r T e d g o v T ’ T o P U b l I c d I P lo m aT I c c I P h e r

ISLAMABAD

S ta f f R e p o R t

cONFIRMING authenticity of the audio leak featuring him and his principal secretary at the time, Azam Khan, Pakistan Tehreek e Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan said that it was a good thing that the conversation was leaked, saying the US cipher should now also be made public so that the nation could see magnitude of the conspiracy

Speaking at the convention on the sub ject of economy, foreign policy, human rights and terrorism, Imran Khan said that Shehbaz Sharif s government was behind the audio leak, adding that it was very good that they have done

He demanded the government public ci pher to the public so that people can know the reality behind the cipher “If the cipher is released people would come to know that

grand conspiracy that was hatched to oust him, he added

“I have not even played on it yet Now we will play when they expose it,” he main tained, adding that it was against the Official Secrets Act therefore he was thinking to take the matter to the court

PTI Chairman said that there was an in tellectual revolution in the state of Madina adding that Allama Iqbal was awakening people through poetry

Imran Khan made it clear that they have to break the shackles of slavery because so ciety without freedom cannot fly, adding that unfortunately Pakistan has not yet become a welfare state

“I saw the principles of the welfare state in Britain then I decided that if Allah gives me the opportunity, I will follow the princi ples of the Madina state,” he added

t r e a t m e n t c h a r g e s H o w e v e r, h e s a i d t h a t l o o k a t t h e c a l l o u s n e s s o f M a r y a m N a w a z w h o a d v i s e d S h a h b a z S h a r i f t o c l o s e t h e h e a l t h c a r d s b e c a u s e t h e p r o j e c t b e n e f i t i n g I m r a n K h a n p o l i t i c a l l y H e s t a t e d t h a t P a k i s t a n w a s e c o n o m i c a l l y w e l l d e v e l o p e d c o u n t r y i n 1 9 6 0 b u t a f t e r w a r d , t h e c o u n t r y w a s p l u n g e d i n t o s e r i o u s e c o n o m i c c r i s i s d u e t o f l a w e d p o l i c i

s

He said that the absconder who ruined the country economically was brought to back to fix the economy, adding that indus tries were shutting down and exports were on rapid decline

PTI Chairman said that how the country would made progress when corrupt mafia was busy in looting the country’s wealth, adding that even things were not happened in Banana Republic He said that During the Musharraf era, when Nawaz Sharif was ar rested, he ran away with the NRO, adding

C h i n e s e n at i o n a l ki l l e d, t wo i n j u re d i n K a r a c h i c l i n i c at t a c k

KARACHI S ta f f R e p o R t

A C h i n e s e n a t i o n a l w a s k i l l e d w h i l e t w o o t h e r s s u s t a i n e d i n j u r i e s a f t e r a n u n i d e n t i f i e d m a n a t t a c k e d t h e m i n s i d e a c l i n i c i n S a d d r a r e a o f K a r a c h i w h i l e p o s i n g a s a p a t i e n t

A c c o r d i n g t o S S P S o u t h A s a d R a z a , t h e a t t a c k e r c a m e i n d i s g u i s e o f a p a t i e n t a n d r e m a i n e d i n s i d e t h e c l i n i c f o r a l o n g e r p e r i o d “ A s s o o n a s h i s t u r n c a m e , h e o p e n e d f i r e o n t h e C h i n e s e n a t i o n a l s i n s i d e t h e c l i n i c h e s a i d

a d d i n g t h a t a C h i n e s e c a s h i e r d i e d o n t h e s p o t w h i l e a d o c t o r a n d h i s w i f e s u s t a i n e d i n j u r i e s

Both the deceased and injured are dual nationals, he informed, adding that they have been shifted to hospital for medico legal formalities and treatment respectively

The injured are said to be in critical condi tions

The police have also recovered seven spent casings of 9mm pistol and cordoned off the area to collect further evidence from the spot This is not the first attack in Karachi on

US Secretar y of State defends sale of F-16 maintenance package to Pakistan

WASHINGTON a p p

Antony Blinken America s top diplomat Tuesday stoutly defended the sale of F 16 aircraft mainte nance package to Pakistan, as India’s External Af fairs Minister S Jaishankar who had sharply criticized the Biden administration’s move a day ear lier, listened silently while his US counterpart justi fied the deal saying it was aimed at bolstering the country’s capacity to fight terrorism Standing next to Jaishankar at a press conference following their bilateral talks on Tuesday Secretary of State Blinken was pointedly asked by Indian journalists whether the sale was justified as, they alleged, Pak istan had used F 16 aircraft against India To be very clear, this is a sustainment programme that Pakistan long had These are not new planes, new systems, new weapons It s sustaining what they have We have a responsibility and an obligation to whomever we provide military equipment to make sure that it s maintained and sustained, Blinken said On Sunday, Jaishankar had said that the US ar gument that the $450 million F 16 fighter jets main tenance package to Pakistan for counter terrorism was not fooling anybody Pakistan’s Foreign Minis ter Bilawal Bhutto Zardari met Secretary Blinken on Monday, discussing a range of problems mainly flood related Noting that the Pakistani F 16 pro gramme was to bolster Pakistan’s capability to deal with terrorist threats emanating from Pakistan or from the region Blinken added To another query from an Indian journalist asking how the F 16 jets will be used in counter terrorist operations, Blinken replied “Whether it is TTP that may be targeting Pakistan, whether it’s ISIS Khorasan, whether it’s al Qaeda, I think the threats are clear, well known, and we all have an interest in making sure that we have the means to deal with them And that’s what this is about While Jaishankar had made the jibe about the F 16 sale on Sunday he didn’t add any comments at the press conference

Chinese nationals and on April 26, four peo ple including three Chinese nationals were killed in an explosion near Confucius Insti tute at University of Karachi

A CCTV footage of the incident showed an attacker running away soon after the at tack with police saying that suspect ran away using the MA Jinnah Road The au thorities will be scrutinizing all CCTV cam eras on the route to determine the escape path of the suspect

Later taking notice of the incident In terior Minister Rana Sanaullah directed the chief secretary of Sindh to prepare a report

that Nawaz Sharif and Zardari became bil lionaire and made the country indebted Imran Khan said that the morality of the country was being destroyed, Maulana Rumi said that when the nation stops distinguish ing between good and bad it destroys’

He said that they had very good relations with China, because of Corona, China was completely closed for two years He said that these thieves played havoc with the country during the last five months

Chairman PTI added that one lakh Kash miris have been martyred, have you ever thought about them, unfortunately there is a slave mentality they do not understand these things

He said that the regime change has been decided in Pakistan adding that it was sur prising that the agencies have started consid ering them as enemies and the senior journalists were being treated like enemies

“It is surprising that the agencies have stood with the thieves, as Shehbaz Gul was

on the firing and immediately arrest the per petrators In a tweet, he condemned the in cident and expressed sorrow over the death of the Chinese citizen Such incidents are intolerable The security of Chinese resi dents should be ensured in every way,” Sanaullah added

Earlier, Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah also took notice of the killing, accord ing to a spokesperson

The CM sought a detailed report from the Karachi Additional IGP Shah also or dered the immediate arrest of the attackers and observed that such incidents were not tolerable, according to the official state ment No one has claimed responsibility for the attack

This incident is the latest in the recent s p a t e o f a t t a c k s o n C h i n e s e n a t i o n a l s i n t h e c o u n t r y I n A p r i l t h r e e C h i n e s e n a tionals were killed in a suicide attack out s i d e t h e U n i v e r s i t y o f K a r a c h i s ( K U ) Confucius Institute

Bilawal warns of consequences to Taliban isolation

WASHINGTON a f p

The foreign minister wants the world to engage the Taliban, warning of danger ous consequences if Afghanistan s rulers are again isolated

In an interview with AFP on a visit to Washington Bilawal Bhutto Zardari cautioned against creating “parallel governance” after the United States, dis trustful of the Taliban put Afghanistan s frozen assets in a fund in Switzerland

“We’ve learned from the past that when we wash our hands and turn our backs, we end up creating unintended consequences and more problems for ourselves Bhutto Zardari said

“I believe that our concerns of an economic collapse, of an exodus of refugees of a threat of new recruits for organisations such as ISIS K and others, outweigh concerns that there may be about their financial institutions

The Taliban returned to power last year after the United States ended a two decade war Relations had soured with Pakistan, and the military and intelli

gence apparatus were accused in Wash ington of quietly nurturing the fighters despite providing logistical access to US forces In contrast to some previous diplomats, the foreign minister offered no warm words for the Taliban But he said the group needed political space on concerns such as women’s rights, which have been sharply curtailed

Throughout history theocratic au tocratic regimes haven’t exactly tended to expand rights at times of economic strife he said In fact they tend to hold on to cultural issues and other is sues to engage their population ”

The United States came away un persuaded from a series of talks with the Taliban and in August said the group had violated promises by welcoming al Qaeda leader Ayman al Zawahiri, who was found at a house in Kabul and killed in a US strike

‘Great power rivalries’

Bhutto Zardari, the Oxford edu cated 34 year old scion of the Bhutto dynasty, took office five months ago amid political turbulence after a con tentious no confidence vote in former

prime minister Imran Khan T h e s t r i f e c o m e s a s P a k i s t a n i s r a v a g e d b y f l o o d s t h a t h a v e s u b m e rg e d o n e t h i r d o f t h e c o u n t r y d i s p l a c i n g m i l l i o n s A t a m e e t i n g o n M o n d a y, U S S e c r e t a r y o f S t a t e A n t o n y B l i n k e n p r o m i s e d l o n g t e r m s u p p o r t I n a m e s s a g e l e s s w e l c o m e b y P a k i s t a n , t h e t o p U S d i p l o m a t a l s o c a l l e d o n I s l a m a b a d t o a s k C h i n a t o r e s t r u c t u r e d e b t a c c u m u l a t e d a s B e i jing builds billions of dollars of infra s t r u c t u r e i n a q u e s t f o r I n d i a n O c e a n p o r t a c c e s s

Asked about Blinken’s remarks, Bhutto Zardari said he has had very productive conversations” with China and said he hoped that assistance after the historic floods does not fall prey to great power rivalries and geostrategic issues ” “I’m sure that the United States would like for us to comment more on China’s internal affairs,” Bhutto Zardari said “But maybe if we start by address ing disputes that are recognised by bod ies such as the United Nations as disputes of an international nature, that would be more productive

Farmers stage sit-in in Islamabad

ISLAMABAD S ta f f R e p o R t

Farmers led by Kissan Ittehad on Wednes day staged a sit in at Blue Area in Islam abad after the authorities barred them from protesting before the Parliament House As soon as the rally of the Kissan Ittehad reached Faizabad the local admin istration asked them to stage sit in at F 9 Park However, the protesters insisted on moving towards Parliament House and later blocked Blue Area over refusal from authorities The authorities blocked road leading Zero Point while heavy traffic jam was also witnessed Khyber Plaza round about The traffic was later diverted to A K Fazl e Haq Road The representatives of the farmers said that the government has not yet sent any delegation to negoti ate with them and only local administra tion approached them to negotiate for providing a place for the sit in

Political heav yweights from Sindh meet Khan, join PTI

In a major political development, several political heavyweights from Sindh an nounced to join Pakistan Tehreek e Insaf (PTI) They made the announcement dur ing their meeting with PTI Chairman Imran Khan here on Wednesday The politicians who jointed PTI included Makhdoom Fazal, Member Core Commit tee of Grand Democratic Alliance (GDA), Makhdoom Mohsin Member Core Com mittee GDA, Makhdoom Amar, Makhdoom Hasnain and Shoaib Khan Tareen They expressed full confidence in the leadership of PTI Chairman Imran Khan PTI Central Secretary General Asad Umar, Chief of Staff to Chairman Senator Shibli Faraz, Central Senior Vice President Chaudhry Fawad Hussain and former Sindh Governor Imran Ismail were also present on the occasion

Moeen’s fifty goes in vain as Pakistan beat England in final- over thriller

LAHORE

Debutant Aamir Jamal held his nerves calm to defend 15 runs off the final over as he leaked just nine runs to power Pak istan to a thrilling six run victory over England in the fifth T20I of the seven match series before wicketkeeper batter Mohammad Rizwan shone with a valiant knock of 63

Set to chase 146, England fell just six runs short of the victory as the Pakistani bowlers displayed combined effort to re duce the touring side to 139/7 in the allot ted 20 overs

The touring side had a dismal start to their run chase as they lost three wickets for a paltry 31 in the first five overs with Alex Hales, Phil Salt, and Ben Duckett walking back to the pavilion cheaply Dawid Malan then looked to anchor

the run chase with Harry Brook and added 23 runs for the fourth wicket before Shadab Khan trapped the latter in his legs in the ninth over He could score just four off nine deliveries Malan’s stay at the crease also re mained brief following Brook’s dismissal as he fell victim to Iftikhar Ahmed, who trapped him plumb for 36 The left handed batter faced 35 deliveries and could hit six boundaries

Following the slump, England’s skip per Moeen Ali stood up for his team and top scored for the side with a handy 51 not out off just 37 deliveries but he too, could not power the touring side over the line as England fell six runs short of the victory as they finished at 139/7 in 20 Overs

For Pakistan, Aamir, Haris Rauf, Shadab, Mohammad Nawaz, Iftikhar, and Mohammad Wasim Jr made one scalp each

n w e n t o n t o s a y t h a t h e a l t h c a r d s w a s a g r e a t b l e s s i n g f o r p o o r f a m i l i e s b e c a u s e t h e y c o u l d n o t a f f o r d

stripped naked and tortured ” he added Imran Khan said that the nation has to stand up for its rights to break the chain of salve to get the real independence

A Z I N

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E D I N R E L E A S E O F A U D I O L E A K S AY S Y E T TO ‘ P L AY TO C I P H E R C O M P L E T E LY ’